comment
stringlengths 1
9.49k
| context
listlengths 0
835
|
|---|---|
>
A lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command"
] |
>
It's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.
Russia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof."
] |
>
I was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'"
] |
>
It is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb."
] |
>
It's so dumb, it's brilliant!
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries."
] |
>
Daniel Craig voice
NO! It's just dumb!
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!"
] |
>
Interesting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!"
] |
>
I think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies"
] |
>
The director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls."
] |
>
Growing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria."
] |
>
He could have left the country at any time.
He decided to stay.
That changed everything.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse."
] |
>
my buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying "he is just actor" and i say "yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well"
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything."
] |
>
We are all actors in the theatre of life.
He is not breaking character... that is the surprise.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\""
] |
>
I think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist.
Also remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise."
] |
>
Yeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.
Also remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..
This part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency."
] |
>
If you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?"
] |
>
Well it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are..."
] |
>
I mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.
Russia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.
I mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.
Russia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right."
] |
>
if trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR."
] |
>
And Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead"
] |
>
Think about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.
If that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President."
] |
>
I would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras."
] |
>
I do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness."
] |
>
Say what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden."
] |
>
Why do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia"
] |
>
US Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.”
A brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake."
] |
>
It reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: "Homo Economicus". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.
The Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called "Homo Diplomaticus".
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”"
] |
>
Yep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.
This goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\"."
] |
>
Next Homeland season woulda been wild :(
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy."
] |
>
In a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far
Create some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :("
] |
>
It was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys"
] |
>
You joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s"
] |
>
It continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to "de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.
Unless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.
So by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics."
] |
>
de-nazify Ukraine
They have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning."
] |
>
It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.
Exactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.
^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^"ands" ^^in ^^a ^^row
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism."
] |
>
So Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.
That's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row"
] |
>
There are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man."
] |
>
The issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations."
] |
>
Ukraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life"
] |
>
Fuck Putin
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster."
] |
>
Yet, another example that Putin is a vile little coward rat.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.",
">\n\nFuck Putin"
] |
>
Reminder: This was under the Biden administration. If this had been the Orange Putin Stooge, Trump would have kept Zelenskyy from being warned and possibly even assisted the Russians in one way or another.
Your vote matters.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.",
">\n\nFuck Putin",
">\n\nYet, another example that Putin is a vile little coward rat."
] |
>
Well if anybody knows how to kill a sitting president, it’s the CIA.
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.",
">\n\nFuck Putin",
">\n\nYet, another example that Putin is a vile little coward rat.",
">\n\nReminder: This was under the Biden administration. If this had been the Orange Putin Stooge, Trump would have kept Zelenskyy from being warned and possibly even assisted the Russians in one way or another.\nYour vote matters."
] |
>
Victory to Ukraine
Send those Russian bastards home
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.",
">\n\nFuck Putin",
">\n\nYet, another example that Putin is a vile little coward rat.",
">\n\nReminder: This was under the Biden administration. If this had been the Orange Putin Stooge, Trump would have kept Zelenskyy from being warned and possibly even assisted the Russians in one way or another.\nYour vote matters.",
">\n\nWell if anybody knows how to kill a sitting president, it’s the CIA."
] |
>
|
[
"You know it’s serious when the director of the CIA comes and knocks on your door at 3 AM.",
">\n\nWho the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning…",
">\n\nCrack a’ dawn and now I’m yawning, wipe the cold out my eye, thinking who’s this paging me, and why…",
">\n\nIt’s my man pop from the barbershop \nTold me he was in the gambling spot and heard some intricate plot",
">\n\nThe people wanna stick me like flypaper-neighbour",
">\n\nSlow down, love, please chill, drop the caper",
">\n\nRemember your neighbors up in Brownsville that you rolled dice with smoked blunts and got nice with?",
">\n\nYeah, my guy Fame up in Prospect\nNah, them my people, nah love wouldn't disrespect",
">\n\nI didn't say them, they schooled to some haters that you knew from back when, when you were clocking minor figures",
">\n\nNow they heard you blowin up like nitro and they wanna stick the knife in your windpipe slow",
">\n\nThis is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)\n\n\nCIA Director Bill Burns met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip to Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion last year to share news that appeared to surprise the Ukrainian leader: the Russians were plotting to assassinate him.\n\"Burns had come to give him a reality check\" and the CIA director shared that Russian Special Forces were coming for Zelenskyy, writes Whipple, adding that President Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\nRussia invaded Ukraine the next month, launching the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II. Since that time, Ukrainian officials have spoken about Zelenskyy surviving more than a dozen Russian assassination attempts.\n\n\nExtended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 Zelenskyy^#2 Burns^#3 Kyiv^#4 invasion^#5",
">\n\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Burns \"To share precise details of the Russian plots.\"\n\nNot every recent US president would have helped Zelensky in this way. Thank god Joe was the one in the Oval.",
">\n\nZelenskyys family very well may not be alive now if it wasn't for that move",
">\n\nI wonder how Ukraine would have faired overall without Zelenskyy, especially in those early weeks.\nFrom what I've read about him, he wasn't the best of the best, but he really stepped up when Russia invaded. I don't think Ukraine would be in the same place right now without him. Based on the attempted actions, I think putin knew this as well.\nAnd his quips are legendary.",
">\n\nThe most remarkable thing was that even though the odds were heavily against Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\nMakes you wonder how many of our world leaders would have done the same in that situation.",
">\n\n\n\"... he did not abandon and flee his country to save himself, he stayed in Kyiv the whole time.\"\n\n\n\"I don't need a ride, I need more ammunition.\"",
">\n\nThere is a photo of him and few other people in open street in Kyiv. A year later he took exact same shot at exact same place with exact same people.\nProb a biggest “FU we’re still here“ that Puttin ever got.",
">\n\nThat video of him and the other officials in the dim city light on the streets where he says something along the lines of “The foreign minister is here. The lead general is here. The Secretary of State is here. The prime minister is here. The President is here. We are all still here and we are all going to keep fighting.”\nIt’s so fucking badass and beautiful and made me tear up. Legends.",
">\n\nThere's a version of that video where someone has put the Shook Ones Pt2 instrumental over the top of it. Makes it even more badass than it already is",
">\n\nCan you find and link it please ?",
">\n\nI forget where I read the account but it was pretty harrowing.\nThey dropped multiple groups of paratroopers to come take him during the first day of the war.",
">\n\nAlpha group wiped out the Russian Spetsnaz that had parachuted in. They cornered them after several attempts to storm the presidential compound. There’s video of the first night and some of the gun fights where you can hear a lot of heavy machine gun fire.",
">\n\nYeah surprise attacks don't go so well when the Ukrainians know you're coming and when...",
">\n\n\"An ambush, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest\"",
">\n\nOh that’s good one. Any idea who said it?",
">\n\nPublius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman writer. The quote is from the 3rd book of his \"De re militari\" series.",
">\n\nI was going to say it's from a loading screen in 'Rome: Total War'",
">\n\nClose enough",
">\n\nI mean to be fair, if you told Vegetius that 1500 years later his writing would still be iconic and quoted with ungrudging admiration by the linguistic descendants of the Germani as they studied and re-enacted the great battles of Rome, he would probably have considered that a greater achievement as a writer than anything from his own lifetime.",
">\n\nSun Tzu also. Not all people read his Art of War, but his book inspired an idiom in Chinese: In 36 plans, fleeing is the best option",
">\n\nIt’s literally insane that the CIA knew all the Russians cards before they even played them. CIA making that black budget work!",
">\n\nFolks forgot just how long and how hard the CIA has worked to cultivate the mean to surveill Russia. \nGlad to see it has gained some tangible results.",
">\n\nCIA has some horribly fucked up shit in their past. But damn is it good to see the intelligence protecting people in real life. I’m certain there are more things we don’t know about, good or bad.",
">\n\nIf the CIA was only a bad press mill for the federal government it wouldn’t be funded like it is \nThe CIA works exactly as intended in ways you or I will NEVER know, that’s what makes it so good at what it does",
">\n\nThe CIA is the physical arm of American espionage and the darker uses of soft diplomacy/power. A lot of what we know of the CIA is from the papertrails they left funding their own illegal activities off the books, so I can only imagine what US broad-day funded \"legally sanctioned\" activities look like",
">\n\nThe CIA also helped thwart Russia's original invasion plan. The Battle of Hostomel Airport is possibly the single most important battle of the invasion. It appears the CIA knew the exact plan which included taking over the Airport to land huge personnel carriers of Russian soldiers and hardware to march down on Kyiv. UA and foreign legions counter attack the Airport of 300 Ruzzies. Drove them out. Then the Russian convoy arrived AND IN SPECTACULARLY POETIC JUSTICE the Russian shelled the Airport so bad they couldn't use it at all, destroying their plan for swift victory.",
">\n\nI think it's worth noting how unprepared and disorganized the initial Ukrainian response was... yet they still relatively swiftly pushed the Russians out of the airport.\nIt was clear that the Russians thought that there would be next to zero resistance on their initial push towards Kyiv, which is why their supply lines collapsed nearly immediately.",
">\n\nSome of them legit thought they'd be welcomed in.",
">\n\nI mean there were units destroyed on the first days armed with riot shields for after invasion control.",
">\n\nSome even had their dress uniforms for a parade in Kyiv.",
">\n\nAnd made reservations at restaurants in Kyiv. They booked large tables.",
">\n\nAs entertaining as this comment thread is, do you guys have any sources for all these claims?",
">\n\nThis NYTimes article goes into detail on a lot of things like that.\nRussian commanders were told there would be no resistance, they packed dress uniforms with them for the victory parade in Kyiv, the frontline units included police for crowd control duties, etc etc.\nUnits were told to sprint to their target cities without much coordination so they could occupy their objectives on a strict timetable, allowing them to seize the country before the West could intervene. But the troops themselves weren't actually told about the invasion until it was literally starting, so many of them were unprepared and had done dumb things like selling off their fuel supplies to Belarusian buyers.\nThe Hostomel Airport seizure was supposed to allow them to take Kyiv on the first day, but only because they expected Zelensky to flee/die and the Ukrainian defenses to stand down or defect. Ukrainian resistance wound up destroying the VDV force that was landed there and shooting down multiple aircraft with SAMs, killing 300 paratroopers - according to Russia's own records of the battle that were later captured.\nIt also explains how the initial Russian air strikes failed to actually hit the Ukrainian Air Force, apparently because they were based on old intel. Which allowed Ukraine's Air Force to keep relocating its forces every few days and avoid being destroyed on the ground.",
">\n\nOne interesting detail, the UKR luckily shot down a helicopter with the leader of the airborne group, so after landing and deploying they had no leadership -which is a problem for them particularly.",
">\n\nMaybe Red Dawn wasn't as far out as I was led to believe",
">\n\nThey tried hard to kill him and his family - so when the Russians say ‘let’s have peace’ imagine what he is thinking?",
">\n\nThe Russians tried to kill the original peace delegation that the Ukrainians sent at the start of this War too.",
">\n\nI'd love to read more about this is if anyone has details / links",
">\n\nIt was wild a few days later when there were reports that it wasn’t poisoning, it was environmental…but nobody else had gotten sick. \nWhen they tried to do lab tests in Turkey there was nothing found in their blood.",
">\n\nIt’s good to know we still had accurate intelligence at least up until that point. Didn’t Putin “sterilize” his inner circle shortly after starting the war, removing anyone who could possibly be an intelligence leak?",
">\n\nThe spy world has changed so much in 50 years as technology does. But old school rules of espionage never change. Money gets thrown around and people talk. This is why having a strong well funded state department and foreign service is crucial. Even during peacetime assets must be maintained and cultivated.",
">\n\nThe same state department that Donald Trump gutted? \nThe same Donald Trump that attempted to blackmail Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.",
">\n\nHe also compromised a massive amount of our spy network resulting in many of them getting killed if I recall correctly. That bastard was a traitor through and through.",
">\n\nHe also tweeted an image from a very classified US spy satellite, for the whole world to see. People quickly found out what altitude and orbit it flies at, so now it's not a secret anymore. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and a few other countries must've been so happy when they saw that.",
">\n\nIt's not really a secret what those orbits are, since anyone can look up and see for themselves. The issue was with giving away the quality of the imagery obtained.",
">\n\nAnd confirming the capabilities of the satellite that was in that orbit at that time. \nWhich means anybody else can go back along it’s historical orbital path and, with certainty, know what we know about their secrets and capabilities. \nWhat an absolute mess and irreparable harm for 5 seconds of affirmation for his ego.",
">\n\nPutin likely saw Zelenskyy as a soft, easy to eradicate target he could quickly remove and plough on with his dreams of empire. He has been caught out in a huge military blunder and his quarry has become one of the most celebrated leaders in modern history, he is loved by so many around the world and it's Putin who elevated him to that superhero status. What a truly monumental fuck up.",
">\n\nThe best part is, if Zelensky dies, he dies a brave martyr. Quite a fuck up indeed.",
">\n\nDamned if you kill him, damned if you don’t.",
">\n\nPUBLICLY pushed back against US Intelligence.\nYou can privately believe intelligence and also publicly denounce it for hopes of diplomacy.",
">\n\nHe also had to try to keep the populace calm, imagine the mass hysteria if he had gone on tv and just been like, “the Russians are going to invade in a full scale fashion and try to kill me.”\nThe early days were already SO chaotic and there were huge traffic jams of people trying to flee, imagine how clogged and fucked up the infrastructure would have been if the whole population was in a panic in the days and weeks leading up to the war. Sadly I totally get why he would lie publicly to try to keep the situation calm.",
">\n\nFair enough. There is a lot of self defense even he has to play, I imagine.",
">\n\nI can't wait for the book about the first days of the war after ukraine finally wins",
">\n\nA detailed analysis of that first 24 hours would be insane. There was so much developing in such a short amount of time.",
">\n\nOne video that came out of the first 24 hours that I vividly remember was the one where a jet flew real close and fired a missile into the house where the recorder was. \nAnd then a week later or so we saw the cracks started to form in Russian military command",
">\n\nA lot of people were pushing back on US intelligence back then. Some of the reporters I follow were refusing to believe Russia was going to invade Ukraine unless the US government revealed their sources. I can't blame them for not trusting the US government but it's funny that they'd expect them to post proof.",
">\n\nIt's funny looking bad at how in denial people were.\nRussia had like 150k troops on the ukr border, us and UK were saying they're going to invade, countries started moving their embassies and pulling people out.... And still there people that believed the kremlins 'its just a training excersize'",
">\n\nI was in denial because I thought it was too fucking dumb.",
">\n\nIt is dumb. It’s the dumbest thing anybody has done in the past at least 20 years when it comes to invading countries.",
">\n\nIt's so dumb, it's brilliant!",
">\n\nDaniel Craig voice\nNO! It's just dumb!",
">\n\nInteresting how the Director himself Flew over to Ukraine, it’s not like the movies",
">\n\nI think it's fair to say this was a special case, I don't think the director of the CIA usually makes house calls.",
">\n\nThe director of the CIA is also a diplomat, so it’s not unusual for him to visit these political figures in person. He met with the Saudi Crown Prince regarding relations with China last year and has recently met with Libya’s Prime Minister with concerns of Russian involvement in Syria.",
">\n\nGrowing up in fear of a russian attack its nice to watch someone else kick the Russians arse.",
">\n\nHe could have left the country at any time.\nHe decided to stay.\nThat changed everything.",
">\n\nmy buddy at work is a Russian who has a questionable outlook on the whole thing, he keeps dismissing him by saying \"he is just actor\" and i say \"yeah well i guess he is playing the part of a great wartime leader and he is playing it well\"",
">\n\nWe are all actors in the theatre of life.\nHe is not breaking character... that is the surprise.",
">\n\nI think part of it was that Zelenskyy also didn’t want to create widespread panic in Ukraine from a PR standpoint. Sure there were Russian troops massing at the border.. but a lot of people in Ukraine and around the world dismissed it as saber rattling, so don’t freak people out by being alarmist. \nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014.. so they probably shrugged off the invasion this time around.. call it a false sense of complacency.",
">\n\nYeah I remember NPR interviewed Ukrainians and the general gist was that the U.S. was blasted for causing panic, that Russia would not invade and Russia and the U.S. need to stop trying to make Ukraine choose a side etc.\n\nAlso remember that Ukraine had already been through this before a couple years ago when Russia invaded and took Crimea in 2014..\n\nThis part was what never made sense to me. Oh they invaded us a few years ago they would never do that again...what?",
">\n\nIf you look at the news from Feb 22, people had doubts because they only had like 290k troops on the border which was calculated by analysts to not be enough for a successful invasion. And well... here we are...",
">\n\nWell it's still not a successful invasion even with more troops. So they were right.",
">\n\nI mean, US could successfully invade Ukraine, halfway across the world, fuck their shit up, and kill their leader.\nRussia is fucked because their military inherently sucks ass and lacks competent logistics and the ability to properly maintain supply lines.\nI mean, maybe the US wouldn't be able to successfully occupy and rebuild Ukraine, like they proved in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there wouldn't be a functional Ukrainian military.\nRussia is just sad. They think that are on some type of level, they want to be respected by the US, but they are barely a shadow of the USSR.",
">\n\nif trump were in office, Zelenskyy would be dead",
">\n\nAnd Russia would've steamrolled Ukraine with the political backing of the US President.",
">\n\nThink about how much of an effect American politics has on the geopolitical world that one election [that came down to the wire] could single-handedly change the fate of entire countries.\nIf that election had went the other way, imagine how many other European countries would have lost faith in the US, start mobilizing their own armies, and tensions rise back to pre-world war eras.",
">\n\nI would think the trump years did a number on US faith all over the globe. Americans are electing very dangerous people like it's all some sort of meme, and these decisions affect everyone on earth. It's madness.",
">\n\nI do think Americans learn. Think about how rarely presidents lose reelections. And especially against an adequate candidate like Joe Biden.",
">\n\nSay what you will about the CIA, but they been on point about Russia",
">\n\nWhy do people doubt the US Intelligence so much? They've been extremely on the button with Russia and most of Europe brushed them off, big mistake.",
">\n\nUS Intelligence discussing the information: “No way this can be correct, it’s incredibly stupid and costly.” \nA brief silent pause as everyone looks at each other and remembers the dumb and costly things the US has done. “Oh my God he’s totally going to do it.”",
">\n\nIt reminds me of the idealized model for individual consumer behavior favored by old-school economists: \"Homo Economicus\". H.E. was a rational npc-like citizen whose every economic decision was determined by logic and long-term best interest, so it served very poorly as a stand-in for actual people.\nThe Kremlin pre-war equivalent, at least in light of Feb. 2022, could be called \"Homo Diplomaticus\".",
">\n\nYep, countries are run by people, and people are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures and you know it.\nThis goes quadruple for dictatorships, since their entire foreign policy can swing on the whims of one guy.",
">\n\nNext Homeland season woulda been wild :(",
">\n\nIn a few years they could totally reboot that show with all the shit that happened so far\nCreate some characters, add a few twists, easy Emmys",
">\n\nIt was nice of Russia to let the 2022 Bejing Olympics wrap up before they invaded Ukraine. /s",
">\n\nYou joke, but IIRC Xi actually forced Putin to push his invasion plans back a few days so it wouldn't interfere with coverage of the Olympics.",
">\n\nIt continues to astound me that anyone believed Ruzzia's stated original motive of wanting to \"de-nazify Ukraine and provide security for the southeastern oblasts when one of the very first things they did upon launching their invasion was attempt to assassinate the nation's elected president... who also is Jewish.\nUnless you are attempting to actually take over an entire nation, you don't destroy its upper civilian leadership, otherwise there's no one left to negotiate with who has any real authority who can actually end remaining resistance under a peace treaty... of course that's not a problem if you're not actually going to attempt to negotiate with anyone and are in fact going to just conquer the entire place.\nSo by that action alone Russia tipped their entire hand right at the beginning.",
">\n\n\nde-nazify Ukraine\n\nThey have redefined Naziism as anti-Russia. Which is why when Kazakhstan looked to distance itself from Russia the Russian politicians started talking about denazification of Kazakhstan as well. It has nothing to do with actual Naziism.",
">\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with actual Naziism.\n\nExactly... and ironically, the actual fascists and in some cases actual modern-day Nazis are on the Russian side. Like all fascist authoritarians, it's all projection and dissembling.\n^^edit: ^^turns ^^out ^^you ^^don't ^^need ^^to ^^put ^^2 ^^\"ands\" ^^in ^^a ^^row",
">\n\nSo Zelenskyy didn't trust the CIA likely as a result of trump's f#ckery so Biden sent the director of the CIA so there would be no misunderstanding.\nThat's what a competent US presidency looks like , rather than the orange fool working his big mouth disclosing classified information too his golf buddies too look the big man.",
">\n\nThere are a lot of things you can criticize Biden on from his long time in office, but he’s generally been pretty spot on re: foreign relations.",
">\n\nThe issue here for him is, whatever happens to Ukraine, unless Putin dies, he will always have a mark on his head.. he'll need to be careful for life",
">\n\nUkraine is so luck that Zelenskyy and Biden were in office when this started last year. Take away one of them and replace him with almost anyone else and it would be a disaster.",
">\n\nFuck Putin",
">\n\nYet, another example that Putin is a vile little coward rat.",
">\n\nReminder: This was under the Biden administration. If this had been the Orange Putin Stooge, Trump would have kept Zelenskyy from being warned and possibly even assisted the Russians in one way or another.\nYour vote matters.",
">\n\nWell if anybody knows how to kill a sitting president, it’s the CIA.",
">\n\nVictory to Ukraine\nSend those Russian bastards home"
] |
This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.
|
[] |
>
Me after playing way too much RoR2 and falling asleep at my pc
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans."
] |
>
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nMe after playing way too much RoR2 and falling asleep at my pc"
] |
Sweeeeet!
|
[] |
>
|
[
"Sweeeeet!"
] |
This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.
|
[] |
>
i saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans."
] |
>
Dont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy"
] |
>
Don’t forget the obsession with teenage boys
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)"
] |
>
But I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...
While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.
Order of the Phoenix
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys"
] |
>
wow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking "no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house."
but I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix"
] |
>
Funny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage."
] |
>
I haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong.
But if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station"
] |
>
Yeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home
The enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year."
] |
>
And when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.
This is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens."
] |
>
that terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls."
] |
>
"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz"
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her."
] |
>
Just because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\""
] |
>
I honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating."
] |
>
JK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao"
] |
>
Dumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore"
] |
>
Not black.
Most likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another.
But. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all.
The only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.
JKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it.
But as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi"
] |
>
Something about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection.
Voldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover."
] |
>
wizards aren't very good at logic
Which was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic."
] |
>
Makes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book."
] |
>
In contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts."
] |
>
My guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like"
] |
>
a book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this
The Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end."
] |
>
He also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had."
] |
>
He doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing"
] |
>
tbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam."
] |
>
Maybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting"
] |
>
or he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book"
] |
>
Which is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts"
] |
>
And the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!"
] |
>
Yeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is."
] |
>
Okay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.
The only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).
Book 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).
Book 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.
In the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him"
] |
>
Okay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6."
] |
>
Because Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them."
] |
>
That’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said.
James was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives."
] |
>
James didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.
Lilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them."
] |
>
James coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too.
Honestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s."
] |
>
While I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.
Besides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort."
] |
>
Also a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort."
] |
>
"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners."
] |
>
In all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.
Frankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived."
] |
>
When Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout."
] |
>
Yes. Plot armor.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are."
] |
>
The most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor."
] |
>
I took that to mean that magic is just that fun.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school."
] |
>
Yeah, but when he ran into that wall, it changed his preseption
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.",
">\n\nI took that to mean that magic is just that fun."
] |
>
That’s mostly because, for half the books, Voldemort didn’t really care much about Harry
Books 1-3 had Voldemort either focused on his own plans (1), or wasn’t even present directly (2 and 3)
Book 4 onwards is when Voldemort tried abducting Harry for the sake of his revival. And he succeeds.
Book 5 had him attempt to assassinate Harry. That fails
By Book 6, Voldemort didn’t even bother trying to attack Harry. Presumably after the failure in 5, he’d decided it’d be better to wait 1 year for the Dursley family protection to expire, and went to do more important evil wizard shit.
Book 7 was no holds barred pursuit from the get go
Half the conflicts were more of Harry stumbling his way into the evil plan, which would much prefer if he wasn’t there
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.",
">\n\nI took that to mean that magic is just that fun.",
">\n\nYeah, but when he ran into that wall, it changed his preseption"
] |
>
The true evil of Voldemort is that he managed to fuck with Harry's education, thus making him less competent in peacetime pursuits than his peers. That's way longer lasting a side effect than anything else.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.",
">\n\nI took that to mean that magic is just that fun.",
">\n\nYeah, but when he ran into that wall, it changed his preseption",
">\n\nThat’s mostly because, for half the books, Voldemort didn’t really care much about Harry\nBooks 1-3 had Voldemort either focused on his own plans (1), or wasn’t even present directly (2 and 3)\nBook 4 onwards is when Voldemort tried abducting Harry for the sake of his revival. And he succeeds.\nBook 5 had him attempt to assassinate Harry. That fails\nBy Book 6, Voldemort didn’t even bother trying to attack Harry. Presumably after the failure in 5, he’d decided it’d be better to wait 1 year for the Dursley family protection to expire, and went to do more important evil wizard shit.\nBook 7 was no holds barred pursuit from the get go\nHalf the conflicts were more of Harry stumbling his way into the evil plan, which would much prefer if he wasn’t there"
] |
>
Harry, I suspect, will be able to get by alright on his reputation even if he missed a lesson or two.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.",
">\n\nI took that to mean that magic is just that fun.",
">\n\nYeah, but when he ran into that wall, it changed his preseption",
">\n\nThat’s mostly because, for half the books, Voldemort didn’t really care much about Harry\nBooks 1-3 had Voldemort either focused on his own plans (1), or wasn’t even present directly (2 and 3)\nBook 4 onwards is when Voldemort tried abducting Harry for the sake of his revival. And he succeeds.\nBook 5 had him attempt to assassinate Harry. That fails\nBy Book 6, Voldemort didn’t even bother trying to attack Harry. Presumably after the failure in 5, he’d decided it’d be better to wait 1 year for the Dursley family protection to expire, and went to do more important evil wizard shit.\nBook 7 was no holds barred pursuit from the get go\nHalf the conflicts were more of Harry stumbling his way into the evil plan, which would much prefer if he wasn’t there",
">\n\nThe true evil of Voldemort is that he managed to fuck with Harry's education, thus making him less competent in peacetime pursuits than his peers. That's way longer lasting a side effect than anything else."
] |
>
No, wasn’t his house just protected or something? Been a while since I’ve consumed anything Harry Potter related, but I just remember what happened to Hedwig
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\ni saw some meme compare him to a teenage girl, obsessed with teenage boys, has a diary, a favorite ring and necklace, a pet he adores and an obsession with a famous teenage boy",
">\n\nDont forget the pretty tiara! (Diadem)",
">\n\nDon’t forget the obsession with teenage boys",
">\n\n\nBut I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic ... I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection...a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative...She took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you ...\n While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you.\n\nOrder of the Phoenix",
">\n\nwow you found the actual passage, mad props. as soon as I read the title I was thinking \"no... Voldemort just can't hurt him at the Dursley's house.\"\nbut I absolutely did not remember why. much less would I remember which book it was explained in. I'd have thought it came earlier than this passage.",
">\n\nFunny, I thought it came later when he's hanging with dead Dumbles at angel Kings Cross station",
">\n\nI haven't read the books or seen the movies in forever, so I could be 100% wrong. \nBut if he doesn't know where Harry lives, the school year is the only time when he has a reasonable idea of where Harry will be. That's why all the shit starts kicking off at Hogwarts on Harry's first year.",
">\n\nYeah, the reason Harry has to be at the dursleys is because Dumbledore put some kind of enchantment that made it so he couldn't be found by evil while in his home\nThe enchantment wears off when he comes of age at 18, that's why the big fleeing scene with the polyjuice potion happens.",
">\n\nAnd when he stays at the Weasleys someone usually says how the Ministry gives The Burrow “every possible protection”.\nThis is why deaths eaters can attack the place in the summer immediately when the Ministry falls.",
">\n\nthat terfy bitch really covered her bases. damn her.",
">\n\n\"JK Rowling bad give updoots plz\"",
">\n\nJust because you're tired of hearing it doesn't mean it's invalid. The truth bears repeating.",
">\n\nI honestly don't give a shit I'm just laughing at the people who can't even have a Harry Potter plot discussion without having to flex their hatred of JK Rowling, lmao",
">\n\nJK Rowling is transphobic, my favorite character is Dumbledore",
">\n\nDumbledore was secretly a black gay nazi",
">\n\nNot black. \nMost likely a bit of a nazi for a while. He definitely shared grindelwald’s earliest bigotry before they came to a full confrontation with one another. \nBut. Definitely. Canonically gay—not even a secret. Even before her post-published comments about his gayness and the updates on pottermore, he clearly has a very Achillean relationship with grindelwald that is easily discernible for anyone older than 15 with any experiences falling in love or crushing on someone at all. \nThe only reason this came as a shock when she made it abundantly clear that he is gay is because many younger readers were too inexperienced in love to pick up on it, and others were too homophobic to allow themselves to pick up on the glaringly obvious subtext.\nJKR absolutely sucks for how she’s leveraged her success to limit the rights and happiness of other human beings, many of whom relied on her work as a crutch during times when they felt they had very few people to rely on. The stories she wrote inspire some home in the outcasts, those outcasts took that hope, and now she’s punishing them for it. \nBut as shitty as her transphobia is, that doesn’t mean that the homophobes who hated her Dumbledore arc are suddenly right. She can do one thing right while getting something else horribly wrong. Dumbledore was not a woke inclusion. She is not woke, so he can’t be. He was a gay man with a checkered past who learned to fight for his loved ones rather than stay with an evil lover.",
">\n\nSomething about he was being protected by magic outside of Hogwarts until he turned 17 (adult to wizards). His mother's magic meant that he would be protected by family until he is an adult. This is why he has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whether they know it or not they control the magic that keeps Harry safe. When he leaves private drive, he's usually hidden or under protection. \nVoldemort could've just hired a muggle to walk to private drive and shoot Harry, but Wizards aren't very good at logic.",
">\n\n\nwizards aren't very good at logic\n\nWhich was even mentioned by Hermione during the potions part of the obstacle course to get the Stone in the first book.",
">\n\nMakes sense, when wizards don’t even have primary school education. Somehow I doubt critical thinking and the Socratic method is taught at Hogwarts.",
">\n\nIn contrast, wizards from the school of hard knocks be like",
">\n\nMy guy fought the hardest and still took the biggest L in the end.",
">\n\na book scene that was cut from the films helps explain this\nThe Dursleys are about to kick Harry out, when a howler arrives (from Dumbledore) reminding Petunia Dursley of the pact she swore to keep Harry in her home under the magical protection it had.",
">\n\nHe also waits until the end of the school year to do his BIG thing",
">\n\nHe doesn’t respect Harry’s need for an Education though - in OOTP, he literally acts (using Legilimency to send false visions) while Harry is mid-way through his OWL exam.",
">\n\ntbf, I'm pretty sure Fred and George were far more distracting",
">\n\nMaybe in the movie, but they were long gone by the time OWLs rolled around in the book",
">\n\nor he knows harry has a shitty home life outside of hogwarts",
">\n\nWhich is a parallel between Harry and voldemort that is explored in the 6th book!",
">\n\nAnd the second, when Tom Riddle is introduced and we don’t yet know who he is.",
">\n\nYeah good point! Harry immediately identifies with him",
">\n\nOkay so, when Harry's mom died for him it cast sacrificial protection, meaning harry would live. After and because of this Dumbledore could cast a charm that would keep Harry safe at the dursleys as long as they willingly accepted him into the home, and until he was 17.\nThe only other time he would have been in danger is Christmas book 5 and 6. Book 5 he was at st mungos (not an ideal place to attack nor planned) and then at Grimmauld place which was under the Fidelius charm).\nBook 6 they have no reasoning to not attack and assumingly its explained as not knowing he was at the burrow (or magic hiding etc).\nBook 7 they did attack the burrow during an event they would expect harry to be at.\nIn the films they also attack the burrow in film 6.",
">\n\nOkay but James also died so why didn’t his sacrifice do anything? James was a pure blood meaning he was related to like half of the Wizarding world so Harry could have been safe with any of them.",
">\n\nBecause Petunia is Lily's sister. The Bond of Blood offers protection while living with blood relatives.",
">\n\nThat’s not an answer that’s just touting what the book said. \nJames was pure blood. It’s said multiple times in the books that all pure blood wizarding families are related. Why didn’t James dying for lily and Harry make it safe for any wizarding family he was related to to have him live with them.",
">\n\nJames didn’t have a choice in the matter. Voldemort was going to kill James either way.\nLilly’s sacrifice mattered because Snape had explicitly asked Voldemort to spare her life, and in a bizarre act of charity Voldemort was willing to honour Snape’s request, so long as Lilly stood aside and let him kill her son. Her refusal to do so when she had an out, and refusing to even fight back as Voldemort killed her (unlike James who rushed Voldemort in a desperation play), is what made her sacrifice different to her husband’s.",
">\n\nJames coulda just dipped the second he knew voldy wanted Harry. Lily could have too. \nHonestly that woulda been a better story. James and Lily gave Harry to the Muggle world to hide him from Voldemort.",
">\n\nWhile I would rarely praise JK's aptitude for logic, in this particular case, neither James nor Lilly had their wands on them at the time that Voldemort attacked, so apparating was right out.\n\nBesides which, apparating under stress is implied to be extremely difficult, given the only wizards we've seen able to consistently do it (in the books at least) were Dumbledore and Voldemort.",
">\n\nAlso a better teacher than Dumbledore, he taught Harry manners.",
">\n\n\"Hey Harry I know you're just a teenager and I'm literally responsible for your education but instead of studying for classes I'm taking you out of school to check out some incredibly dangerous situations because I need ~~an unpaid intern with no family or lawyers~~ The Boy Who Lived.",
">\n\nIn all fairness, even with Dumbledoor actively trying to protect the school Harry still winds up killing Voldemort twice in his first two years. Defeats a swarm of Dementors his third year, escapes Voldemort his fourth, and trains and leads his own strike team into the Ministry in his fifth year.\nFrankly, Dumbledoor should have taken Harry under his wing sooner. Clearly this is a kid who is either drawn to danger or draws it (or both). If you can't keep him out of harms way, all you can do is teach him how to survive the fallout.",
">\n\nWhen Harry lives with family he’s under a magical protection so Voldemort can’t get him, that’s the entire reason he keeps going back to them every summer despite how abusive they are.",
">\n\nYes. Plot armor.",
">\n\nThe most unbelievable part of the Harry Potter universe is that all of the kids hate summer and can't wait to go back to school.",
">\n\nI took that to mean that magic is just that fun.",
">\n\nYeah, but when he ran into that wall, it changed his preseption",
">\n\nThat’s mostly because, for half the books, Voldemort didn’t really care much about Harry\nBooks 1-3 had Voldemort either focused on his own plans (1), or wasn’t even present directly (2 and 3)\nBook 4 onwards is when Voldemort tried abducting Harry for the sake of his revival. And he succeeds.\nBook 5 had him attempt to assassinate Harry. That fails\nBy Book 6, Voldemort didn’t even bother trying to attack Harry. Presumably after the failure in 5, he’d decided it’d be better to wait 1 year for the Dursley family protection to expire, and went to do more important evil wizard shit.\nBook 7 was no holds barred pursuit from the get go\nHalf the conflicts were more of Harry stumbling his way into the evil plan, which would much prefer if he wasn’t there",
">\n\nThe true evil of Voldemort is that he managed to fuck with Harry's education, thus making him less competent in peacetime pursuits than his peers. That's way longer lasting a side effect than anything else.",
">\n\nHarry, I suspect, will be able to get by alright on his reputation even if he missed a lesson or two."
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.