AlbigensianGhoul

It seems these European intel agencies are awfully disorganized and disunited. Maybe they should all officially become subsidiaries of the CIA, that'll help protect Europe. \s

Did some searching, it comes from CIA director William Burns in 2022-03-08, you can see it here. It was actually 2 days.

"His own military's performance has been largely ineffective," Burns said of Putin. "Instead of seizing Kyiv within the first two days of the campaign, which is what his plan was premised upon, after nearly two full weeks they still have not been able to fully encircle the city."

If you go a bit further back, you have "sources" from the CIA already spouting the 2 days line a couple weeks earlier. Here's an example from the day after the start of the SMO.

US intelligence officials are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.

It goes like this, US Intel are worried it could happen -> report it as Putin hinging his whole plan on it happening -> if it happens it's because it was a massive gamble and "unfair" in some way, if it doesn't happen it was an utter failure and Putin threw away his whole country.

A week later, business insider reports it as though Russia failed in the war and practically lost, and actually, it's Russian intelligence which is bad for wrongly predicting their victory. Which the US intel also predicted. Go figure.

Narrative created. Consent manufactured. Redditor fooled.

P.S.: is there a Ukrainian civil war megathread I could read and contribute to somewhere? It's fun to look up these little lies but it's been 2 years now and there's just too much stuff to hold on one's head.

Rising rents coupled with high borrowing costs and low wage growth have hit some especially hard. “Lower income households are not keeping up,” Goldman said. “Everything looks great but when you look beneath the surface, the disparity between the wealthy and nonwealthy is widening dramatically.”

Everything is great, you're just poor. Have you tried not being poor?

We’re in a “vibecession,” Joyce Chang, JPMorgan’s chair of global research, said at the CNBC Financial Advisor Summit in May.

Apparently somebody is saying that. From JPMorgan. Do with that what you will.

In July Mr Putin doubled the federal bonus for those signing up to fight from 195,000 roubles ($2,200) to 400,000 roubles, which regional authorities are supposed to top up. The government is committing vast sums on compensation to the families of those killed in action. And Russia’s splurge goes beyond war-related spending. Mr Putin is lavishing money on welfare payments: in June he raised pensions for some recipients by close to 10%. The government is also spending big on infrastructure, including a highway from Kazan to Yekaterinburg, two cities 450 miles (729km) apart. Indeed, it is spending on pretty much whatever takes its fancy. Mikhail Mishustin, the prime minister, recently boasted about a government scheme to pay for children to holiday in Crimea.

"Lavishing" on pensions. Imagine trying to paint that as a bad thing. Wonder how Yankees feel when they find out that the country they're blowing hundreds of billions on to wage useless wars has free healthcare too.

Not sure about a "smile in your death bed" but there are roles for anyone to play in a revolution. Most people can't have the energy (or free time) of a Lenin or Mao, but you can still join an union, party or other kind of organisation and do as much work as you're able to from there.

Thankfully I'm able to help out in minor ways like that, to the best of my limited capabilities.

Although I don't think this is going to change the result (Trump is still going to win, USA will remain a stagnant imperialist country), it's going to be very fun watching the chaos unfold within the blue party.

It's not even clear if Kamala is actually going to be selected candidate. As entertainment, I love it.

Browsing reactionary spaces, seems they're trying to brew the theory that the secret service purposefully let this happen, or though sheer incompetence. Wait a week and they'll start saying the secret service was compromised by Biden.

Really funny seeing the in-fighting between the "civility and democracy" libs and the "trump is the worst thing since Hitler" libs right now.

footage of the shot, shots are fired at around 8 minutes.

He looks alright after he gets up, just a little dazed. Doubt he'll die from this. Could even have been staged, but I recommend waiting for more info before speculating too hard.

Edit: some sources saying he was hit by glass shrapnel from a teleprompter rather than the bullet.

I can't imagine a teleprompter hitting him from that angle, so it must be some other glass object (or, in the staged theory, blading). But it tracks with the blood pattern on his cheek that could be a scratch rather than a splatter. Either way, it's funny how he's immediately lying about "feeling the bullet" on his social media.

To be fair, he looks pretty good for an old man who just got shot. Didn't even break character. Watching in slow motion it looks like the bullet meant for his head only grazed his ear. He's gonna be fine.

link to article.

I don't think it's good to normalise images as "news" in this comm. It is true this time, but is less convenient to verify, and could be abused in the future.

Biden has been providing some great quotes lately:

“I convinced myself of two things. I’m the most qualified person to beat him, and I know how to get things done,” he stated.