Ukraine’s Peace Formula is part of the Victory Plan and vice versa. We don’t know all the details, but the Kursk incursion part of the puzzle, maybe. So is the reshufflement of Ukraine’s executive branch, which is designed to generate new energy, whatever that means. Don’t ask Le Monde.
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrysky, whose pupils look oddly dialated, tells Christiana that invaders stopped advancing towards Pokrovsk six days ago.
But Ukraine’s war map shows continued advances on the Kurakhove front, with invaders trying to encircle Ukrainian units near Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka and Kostiantynivka.
I watched most of Richard’s 45-minute extended interview with Z.
Meh. Sit up straight, shave.
I’d say the interview is a bit generous: it’s something of a reach to call Z – who daily outperforms even that sweaty little fuckpig Javier Milei in public acts of self-aggrandizement – an exemplary anything. The one-on-one is a treat all the same: very deft and beautifully produced. It would be an injustice to retype selective excerpts of it here. If you haven’t watched the ish yet, don’t bother.
Given the ease with which these charismatic YouTube chit chats are retroactively added to TikTok and Instagram posts, why would it not follow that Z brand connections could be formed on our Substack, to which several thousand people click every single day? Modifications of extant postings to suit the needs of UNITED24 subscribers are only a couple of regular expressions away.
The demogogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to people he knows to be idiots - H.L. Menken
Z is expected to visit the Ramstein on Friday.
The purpose of the visit, according to Der Spiegel, is to repeat demands for new arms deliveries, such as long-range missiles and air defense systems.
Die Teilnahme von Staats- und Regierungschefs an dem Treffen ist nicht üblich. Selenskyj will offenbar den Ernst der Lage persönlich schildern und mit seiner Anwesenheit seinen Bitten um weitere Waffen für den Kampf gegen Russland Nachdruck verleihen. Dabei geht es nach Informationen aus Berlin vor allem um weitreichende Raketen und mehr Flugabwehr. Zudem hatte der ukrainische Präsident in den vergangenen Monaten immer wieder gefordert, dass die westlichen Verbündeten ihre Beschränkungen für den Einsatz gelieferter Waffen gegen Ziele auf russischem Staatsgebiet aufheben.
It’s only a 4-hour drive from the US air base to Thuringia. Maybe he can chat up the AfD’s charismatic leader Björn Höcke before he returns.
And, finally, this from the last graph of an editorial appearing in The Guardian.
Charismatic authority is a form of leadership characterized by exceptional personal qualities and a strong appeal to followers, often seen in movements that arise in response to social or cultural disruptions1.
Max Weber defined it as: “resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him.” Charismatic rule is often found in authoritarian states, autocracies, dictatorships and theocracies. Z’s popularity has waned because most Ukrainians are tired of his dull demogoguery.
What price will Ukraine pay for taking the war to Moscow? (The Guardian, September 6, 2024)
Zelenskyy has to stop asking for things, or demanding or whatever - everyone eventually gets tired of a beggar. More work has to be put into joint investments in manufacturing, something that makes money for the West. We're all transactional Trumpists these days. If you could show me how to make money out of donating, I'd be donating a hell of a lot more.