Just for fun...

[Chargeride]

Russia isnt remotely depleted, there are 500 unregistered tankers supplying oil to 3rd parties that we are buying.

The ‘dark fleet’ of tankers shipping Russian oil in the shadows

As sanctions loomed, sales of ageing crude carriers suddenly soared, bought by operators unknown to the market

www.theguardian.com

Poland still buys small amounts of Russian electricity till 2025 and Ukraine is now a heavy load on Europes grid.

Subscribe to read

www.ft.com

I dont want to get political, but Im very concerned about war and all the gauges are going in the wrong direction.
Also my home city is one of Russias major targets.

In 2008 the Mir was parked in the Liverpool docks, all lit up, we were coming along the dock road in a taxi after a night out and asked the driver to pull over, we walked right up to it, up the gangplank and wandered around the deck for nearly a minute before being discovered, the huge hats on the crew were comical and their reaction was so laid back.
No, no, you must leave..
They were laughing and we bantering with them.

Now we are talking about shooting our cruise missiles at them.

 

[Chargeride]

Anyway back to bikes..

I have it on good authority that this is every ride for US mountain bikers.
Warning cussing

 

[PedalUma]

Have you seen the current alternative?

Yes: The prosecutor who handed the bumbling criminal & sex offender his azz on a platter! And, laughed at the fool. He lost worst than Biden. He baited Biden masterfully. Like a master baiter who can only hold a bible when it is upside down, or it will burst into flames without his middle finger up on the backside of the bible while it is upside down. Then he got goaded into rambling about crowd sizes, race rants, and pointing blame and not taking responsibility, like scuttling the bipartisan border bill, and project 2025. Who does he want to win the war in Ukraine? What ideas does he have for childcare? Tariffs are paid by US importers who pass it on to the little guy who then can't get parts for a local business. Clueless. Selfish. He scuttled the Border Bill then wanted to blame others. Nuts. No intelligent woman would vote for him, nor anyone with a daughter or niece that they care about. He thinks category 5 hurricanes in Florida are a hoax, but he can't vote there because of a felony conviction by his peers on 64 counts. "They are eating the dogs". He almost got hit by an AR fragment but will not do anything about the problem because his ear did not have a visible scratch the next day. Yes, laughter is the answer to the clown.

 

[Chargeride]

My American mullet hero.

 

[kevinmccune]

How exactly could we vote in Russian elections?

Seriously, it is hard to see how Russia won't take a crack at Poland and the Baltic States (and possibly Finland, heck) in the future. That seems to be just how that country is wired at this point in time. Bluntly replacing Putin won't change that very much either, as the likely replacements are even more hard-core than he is. And that calculus won't change much based on who is in charge in any western country.

Probably the least bad "solution" is to have a Russia so depleted that future expansionist wars aren't even possible.

the treaty of "versailles" wont work today either.

 

[Roamers]

Sorry to go off topic, but this is fun(ny).

Yes: The prosecutor who handed the bumbling criminal & sex offender his azz on a platter!

I'll try not to post again on the topic (unless directly prodded.) I saw this and it's quite accurate.
--------------------
It's interesting there are so many libtard boners over the debate. I always preferred to find out more about policy than rehashing "my opponent is a dirtbag".

She reinforced (3) "get me some votes" giveaways that appear to be student loan cancelation quality and thats about it. Her appeal to emotion word salad probably played well to the Simpletons among us.

Most of what I saw before turning it off was from the "Steven Colbert School of Lack of Comedy." 1) Say something that doesn't really make sense or is off topic to appeal to Simple folks. 2) Add a stupid look to your face since that locks it in as true to the Simple folks. 3) Hope for a ratings boost.
-------------------
Unfortunately, that was not for fun, but for true.

Back to fun stuff.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Russia isnt remotely depleted, there are 500 unregistered tankers supplying oil to 3rd parties that we are buying.

The institute for the study of war begs to disagree with you:

Institute for the Study of War

Russia reportedly aims to achieve a decisive victory in Ukraine by 2026 before likely medium- to long-term economic and force generation constraints begin to significantly degrade Russia's ability to sustain its war effort in Ukraine.

www.understandingwar.org

Roughly 2/3 of the fighting army they had in February of 2022 has been a casualty at this point.

Best estimates is that Ukraine has more operational tanks (1500) than Russia (1400).

The fact that slow, low-tech drones can attack Moscow shows that the Russian air defense is sorely depleted. Not just their missiles but their radars and electronic warfare systems.

Russia is importing artillery shells from North Korea.

Yes, they are still making money selling oil but they are making much less than in 2022. And they are forced to sell to people further away and who don’t have the pipeline infrastructure to distribute to their new customers efficiently.

 

[Chargeride]

with all respect, its nothing but fibs on a plate of propaganda, Ukraine is almost completely depleted.
It is being bombed relentlessly, their power grids are being destroyed over and over again and Europe is having to supply its power,

The race against time to save Ukraine’s energy grid

Russia has obliterated much of Ukraine’s power generation, leaving Kyiv sprinting to find parts, money and defense systems before icy weather arrives.

www.politico.eu

thats why they wanted our cruise missiles to take out the launch sites, which are just out of the attack range allowed by nato.
The US backed down, its just too much to basically declare war.
Pootin will just slowly take Ukraine and no one can stop him.
I watched thousands of hours of nonsense during the gulf wars, they lie, we lie since the dawn of wars.
This could go on for ever, and every day we get nearer to nato boots on the ground.
And weve joined the taskforce AUKUS to defend Taiwan with America and Australia, and China has basically turned the entire coast into a gun and carrier destroying missile placement and Taiwan is doing the same with five US Harpoon placements.
I know Im ranting, Ill leave it there, but this is armagedon stirring in the pot.

Of course you do realise war in the China sea could severely impact spare parts for Specialized bikes, or they might rain down and glow in the dark .
Im not going to mention it again, this is an ebike forum and I take the bait too easily

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Funny to hear that Chris taking into account the second army of the world could not defeat Ukraine for 2.5 years, and could even not prevent the invasion into Russia's home territory.

Regarding your greatest fear: don't you think the Russian nukes are just duds like anything else in the Russian arsenal?

We could be scared here in Poland. We are not. It looks Russia withdraws her forces from Kaliningrad now. Poland is expanding her military fast, and trust me, the Fins will fight, not for the first time.

So far, Russia could even not handle Ukraine... Where's the "Moskva" battleship?

 

[Chargeride]

Undergoing wet dock repairs...by crabs.

It would be lovely if Ukraine was winning, but its just having its head held above the water by sporadic cash injections and intelligence.
This entire war has revealed a fundamental flaw in MAD.
Russia can just keep nudging forward and US support changes with the wind.
I can appreciate your view obviously by your history ,geography and vulnerability, but weve been dragged into playing the brinkmanship game and I want back to a pretend friendship with the Bear.

oh I said I was wasnt...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A drawing by my cycling friend Pawel Jonca with its history.

On a group ride (L to R): Pawel Jonca (the artist), Stefan, Paul Newbery (a Welsh).

 

[Chargeride]

Very good, Ive never seen that.

 

[PedalUma]

My customer base.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/452104477864890?fs=e&mibextid=3pERcX&fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

 

[Chargeride]

Which forum member is this?

 

[Brian-s]

Sorry to go off topic, but this is fun(ny).

I'll try not to post again on the topic (unless directly prodded.) I saw this and it's quite accurate.
--------------------
It's interesting there are so many libtard boners over the debate. I always preferred to find out more about policy than rehashing "my opponent is a dirtbag".

She reinforced (3) "get me some votes" giveaways that appear to be student loan cancelation quality and thats about it. Her appeal to emotion word salad probably played well to the Simpletons among us.

Most of what I saw before turning it off was from the "Steven Colbert School of Lack of Comedy." 1) Say something that doesn't really make sense or is off topic to appeal to Simple folks.

1) something that doesn't make sense....where to begin? Explaining his redrawn hurricane map, bleach and light for COVID, toilet water pressure, and it goes on and on.

 

[PedalUma]

For good over-all health shoot a little bleach and take some bovine wormer and eat McDonald's every day. Never ride a bike! Use a Pope mobile golf cart and your waist size, butt size, and fitness tone will improve. As well as your selfish proclivities to rape, exaggerate, infidelity's, and fib wild tall tails all day, even while under oath or when your hand is on a bible. Point fingers everywhere but at yourself. And remember to quote Hitler regularly and to praise dictators.

 

[Roamers]

1) something that doesn't make sense....where to begin? Explaining his redrawn hurricane map, bleach and light for COVID, toilet water pressure, and it goes on and on.

So you agree with the posted comment about her debate performance.

 

[Roamers]

For good over-all health shoot a little bleach and take some bovine wormer and eat McDonald's every day. Never ride a bike! Use a Pope mobile golf cart and your waist size, butt size, and fitness tone will improve. As well as your selfish proclivities to rape, exaggerate, infidelity's, and fib wild tall tails all day, even while under oath or when your hand is on a bible. Point fingers everywhere but at yourself. And remember to quote Hitler regularly and to praise dictators.

At least this is on "Just for fun" topic. Good job!

 

[Chargeride]

The good news in the UK is we are quickly united by dislike of our new incompetent grey man .
The States is still post civil war.

That debate was hilarious , they are both just beyond awful, Ive started watching older debates when America was sane.

Do you think this was staged, or just something he prepared for the obvious question.

 

[PedalUma]

The good news in the UK is we are quickly united by dislike of our new incompetent grey man .
The States is still post civil war.

That debate was hilarious , they are both just beyond awful, Ive started watching older debates when America was sane.

Do you think this was staged, or just something he prepared for the obvious question.

He and his speech writers and strategists probably said, 'Okay, how can we defuse this and make an opportunity.' I was hoping that the DNC convection would have quoted real Republican leaders, although they had flaws. Nixon on the EPA, R. vs, W., Russia, Trade with China, OSHA, Clean water, Gas crisis, Head start and many others. Reagan on Russia and NATO. John McCain on Trade, and Foreign policy/relations, and Sacrifice and service to the nation before self. It could be delivered by a comedian and been great to see. The contrasts with real Republicans could not be greater. Mr. T when presented with a group of wounded warriors, said, 'Get them out of here.' That would apply to folks like Bush the First. The guy laughed at McCain's disabilities, a true hero.