The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on December 15, 2022, 04:01:32 pm
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French Social Media Erupts as Store Clerk on Avenue Montaigne Reports Zelenskyy’s Wife Having €40,000 Christmas Shopping Spree in Paris
December 14, 2022 | sundance
Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, traveled to Paris France for a three-day visit December 12-14. As reported by Le Monde, “Members of the Ukrainian government will also come, including Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and several ministers in charge of reconstruction, including Yulia Svyrydenko (economy), Oleksandr Kubrakov (infrastructure) and German Galushchenko (energy).”
However, social media has erupted today after a “reliable store clerk” working on the ritzy Avenue Montaigne, has reported that Olena Zelenska went on a Christmas shopping spree spending €40,000 euros in an hour. (citation) Previously President Zelenskyy’s wife was received by French first lady Bridget Macron.
If the reporting is accurate, the spending spree comes at a bad time optically, as Mrs. Zelenska’s husband Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is simultaneously asking the European Union to provide more financial support for the embattled country.
Additionally, the Biden administration is trying to push congress to pass another $38 billion spending package for Ukraine to bring the total spent well over $100 billion.
Mrs. Zelenskyy Christmas shopping in glitzy Paris stores and dropping €40,000 while her husband bangs his tin cup isn’t exactly a good look.
more
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/14/french-social-media-erupts-as-store-clerk-on-avenue-montaigne-reports-zelenskyys-wife-having-e40000-christmas-shopping-spree-in-paris/
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Hoping that this might be the bridge too far.
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“reliable store clerk”
Reporting in the modern age...
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Smells like Russian BS disinformation to me...they've also been trying to stir up trouble in Germany.
Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/08/russian-disinfo-ukrainian-refugees-germany/
:bs:
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Hey,if you can't trust some random communist store clerk to tell the truth,who CAN you trust?
I say "communist" because big cities in France are infested with them.
This is especially true when it comes to people like store clerks in expensive stores.
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“reliable store clerk”
Reporting in the modern age...
@DB "Reliable FRENCH store clerk in PARIS".
There is a better than 50/50 chance he votes communist.
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yeah yeah Russian disinformation, because it's not like we have any idea whatsoever where billions of our tax dollars to the Ukraine actually ended up **nononono*
Okay now I'll play the flip side, reports were that Zelenskyy was a millionaire before everything hit the crapper.
I just don't trust anything about all our tax dollars sent to Ukraine when there hasn't been on iota of accounting, nor do I believe the Zelenskyy's incapable of corruption.
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yeah yeah Russian disinformation, because it's not like we have any idea whatsoever where billions of our tax dollars to the Ukraine actually ended up **nononono*
Okay now I'll play the flip side, reports were that Zelenskyy was a millionaire before everything hit the crapper.
I just don't trust anything about all our tax dollars sent to Ukraine when there hasn't been on iota of accounting, nor do I believe the Zelenskyy's incapable of corruption.
Send weapons - weapons only.
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Y'all are forgetting that Zelensky was already rich when he got elected.
It would be like Melania spending $50K on Christmas, a lot to us, but not much on their budget.
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Send weapons - weapons only.
Yep.
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She should have just shopped on Amazon, lol.
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French Social Media Erupts as Store Clerk on Avenue Montaigne Reports Zelenskyy’s Wife Having €40,000 Christmas f
French Social Media Erupts as Store Clerk on Avenue Montaigne Reports Zelenskyy’s Wife Having €40,000 Christmas Shopping Spree in Paris.
Paris has a large number of Communists living there.
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Smells like Russian BS disinformation to me...they've also been trying to stir up trouble in Germany.
Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/08/russian-disinfo-ukrainian-refugees-germany/
:bs:
@Timber Rattler
Why ah neva!
Don't forget,there are a large number of French and other nations communists living in Paris.
They are there for the socializing and all the "free stuff".
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Send weapons - weapons only.
That's it in a nutshell!
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Send weapons - weapons only.
I'm good with that. Then, maybe the wife of the (reasonably wealthy before he was elected) President of the Ukraine could take advantage of shopping opportunities while she is lobbying for aid for their country in time of war without taking fire for buying things that she just can't get in Kiev.
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Send weapons - weapons only.
@DB
Do that and a Neo-Soviet takeover of Ukraine is a guaranteed thing.
Now,if you want to say "send no CASH",I can go along with that as long as we are sending weapons,food,medical supplies,clothing,etc,etc.
Wars are NOT won by soldiers wonderin what is going to kill them first,starvation,freezing,or infections.
Let their fellow Europeans supply them with cash to pay their soldiers so the soldiers can feed,clothe,and house their families.
"We",the west,MUST support their effort to break free from bondage to the Neo-Soviet Union. Given that everybody seems to think that Putin is sick and possibly dying,it shouldn't be that long before he is no longer in office,and the new Russian leader can pull back and let "peace break out all-over" without losing "face". Putin can NOT do that without admitting he made a serious strategic and military mistake. A new President would have nothing to apologize for,and this opens possibilities.
The absolute MINIMUM you can say about a plan like that is nobody can call the new boss a warmonger or murderer of women and children,and chances are if a new President were elected and called off the war,a Nobel Peace Prize would be a sure thing.
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To assume whoever one day replaces Putin would end the war, that is a very false assumption. Most likely, whoever replaces Putin will be a war hawk, most likely even more aggressive than Putin. The Russian people are strongly behind Putin, so wishing for an uprising is not reality. There is 100,000+ Russian dead, or so our honest news media reports. But less honest is Russia's media, by a narrow margin, and they report a few hundred dead. I figure it is at least 2-3 more years before Russian people start questioning what became of their sons?
Most here do not know that most women in Russia have but one child and get quickly divorced. They are literally living in a culture that has not existed for many decades here. If a girl is not married by the time she is 18, she is an old maid. Literally. And she end up divorced in 1-2 years living with her parents trying to get by. The husband moves on. That is Russia.
So I say, 2-3 more years down the road, when there are 250,000+ dead Russians, the people might begin to wake up. I say might. But don't hold your breath. Putin is here to stay for a long while, unless he gets taken out by a so called ally. Again, don't hold your breath.
Ukraine needs to prepare for a major offensive coming in the spring. It will be far larger than attacks to date. Russia will feed huge numbers to the meat grinder. If Ukraine survives the mass destruction in 2023, than they have a shot at holding off Russia. But it will come to a culmination in 2023. With Patriot batteries in Ukraine, manned by USA troops, I do not see how we avoid staying out of this conflict. And the Patriots will be manned by Americans. No telling how many special forces we have in Ukraine right this moment. Thousands possibly.
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Russia doesn't have the armor anymore for an early 2023 offensive such as the one last February, Putin is down to T-62 and T-55 tanks, and can churn out about a hundred cruise missiles per month. It's true that he can send his mobiki into massive human wave attacks, like the red Chinese in Korea or Iranians against Iraq in the 1980s. But the slaughter would be awful and he would not succeed since the Ukrainians have had plenty of time to fortify their northern border and "shape" the roads south from Belorussia and Belgorod. And plus the Ukrainians would see them coming now, with NATO providing satellite and aerial reconnaissance.
Russia To ‘Modernize’ 800 Vintage T-62 Tanks Due To Ukraine Losses: Report
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/russia-to-modernize-800-vintage-t-62-tanks-due-to-ukraine-losses-report
The Ukrainian Army Captured Dozens Of The Russian Army’s Old T-62 Tanks—And Is Now Sending Them Back Into Battle
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/11/28/the-ukrainian-army-captured-dozens-of-the-russian-armys-old-t-62-tanks-and-is-now-sending-them-back-into-battle/?sh=3fed4db018d2
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Hey,if you can't trust some random communist store clerk to tell the truth,who CAN you trust?
I say "communist" because big cities in France are infested with them.
This is especially true when it comes to people like store clerks in expensive stores.
Were in the article does it say the store clerk is communist?
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Smells like Russian BS disinformation to me...they've also been trying to stir up trouble in Germany.
Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/08/russian-disinfo-ukrainian-refugees-germany/
:bs:
Seems I’ve heard that “Russian BS information” line used before on a story that turned out to be true
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Send weapons - weapons only.
Agree
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To assume whoever one day replaces Putin would end the war, that is a very false assumption. Most likely, whoever replaces Putin will be a war hawk, most likely even more aggressive than Putin.
@jafo2010
Yeah,because that has worked so wonderfully for the Soviets,both original and neo,Soviet blends,right?
The Russian people are strongly behind Putin,
Says who,Pravda?
so wishing for an uprising is not reality. There is 100,000+ Russian dead, or so our honest news media reports. But less honest is Russia's media, by a narrow margin, and they report a few hundred dead. I figure it is at least 2-3 more years before Russian people start questioning what became of their sons?
Never been to Russia and met actual Russian serfs/communist subjects,have you?
Most here do not know that most women in Russia have but one child and get quickly divorced.
I don't know about the divorces,who what woman wants to have children she can't feed,clothe,or give shelter to?
They are literally living in a culture that has not existed for many decades here.
Yup!
If a girl is not married by the time she is 18, she is an old maid.
Horse Hillary. Once again,take a trip to Russia and do some mingling with the locals. Russians are slaves to the state,and they all know it. Most seem to be unhappy about this,but like us,they don't know what to do about it.
Literally. And she end up divorced in 1-2 years living with her parents trying to get by. The husband moves on. That is Russia.
State planned isolationism. "The state is both your mother and your father,and you don't need a man to be a family."
It's all about isolation and control. A single mother gets the same-sized apartment as a married mother,and has more room as well as more money from the state than the typical Soviet husband factory-worker could provide.
"Divide and Conquer".
So I say, 2-3 more years down the road, when there are 250,000+ dead Russians, the people might begin to wake up.
They have been awake for decades. So are we,and like us,the Russians know they are being betrayed and used,but really don't know how to go about changing things because their goverment insures isolation and mistrust.
I say might. But don't hold your breath. Putin is here to stay for a long while, unless he gets taken out by a so called ally. Again, don't hold your breath.
I wouldn't bet money on that one. Especially given the Russian media reports about his health. If the neo-Soviets are reporting that his health is failing,it has already failed and they are trying to mentally prepare the population for another "Maximum He-Man Super-Hero leader."
Ukraine needs to prepare for a major offensive coming in the spring.
I am guessing that all the planning has already been done.
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Were in the article does it say the store clerk is communist?
@LMAO
Did you miss the part about him being a French store clerk selling stuff like shoes in Paris?
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Send weapons - weapons only.
@DB
BullBush!
We need to also send warm clothing including boots,medicine as well as bandages,etc,etc,etc,and food in addition to weapons.
Weapons are just a part of a war,not the end-all.
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Y'all are forgetting that Zelensky was already rich when he got elected.
It would be like Melania spending $50K on Christmas, a lot to us, but not much on their budget.
I agree, but if true, you got say the optics are awful, considering the plight and hardships of the Ukranian people.
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That's it in a nutshell!
@bilo
Well,it IS nuts,I will grant you that!
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I'm good with that. Then, maybe the wife of the (reasonably wealthy before he was elected) President of the Ukraine could take advantage of shopping opportunities while she is lobbying for aid for their country in time of war without taking fire for buying things that she just can't get in Kiev.
@Smokin Joe
Class warfare and envy based on jealousy from you????
I honestly expected better.
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Were in the article does it say the store clerk is communist?
You know; that info is in the accusations and assumptions column.
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The U.S.A. has sent billions to Ukraine along with weapons. It's time to say enough!!
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@Smokin Joe
Class warfare and envy based on jealousy from you????
I honestly expected better.
Please reread my comment. In part, I was being sarcastic, because I'd never have a problem with rich people spending their money. It helps the rest of us make a living. Without that, we would be scratching along trying to make the 'big score' from someone poorer and that just would not work.
Besides, is the wife of the Ukrainian President supposed to go on diplomatic junkets (which is what that was, basically, looking for funding) in sackcloth and ashes? Blue jeans with holes in them? Homespun? She would not be likely to even get in the building, much less meet with people with the sort of influence and money the country needs to continue to resist the Russians.
We would never send a First Lady overseas wearing flour sack skirts (unless they were haute coture that year and sporting a designer label), so why would anyone gripe about her being well-dressed?
Add to that, and I have yet to see a list of what she bought. For all we know, she bought containers of kids clothes, but even if she didn't, so what?
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We would never send a First Lady overseas wearing flour sack skirts (unless they were haute coture that year and sporting a designer label), so why would anyone gripe about her being well-dressed?
Then again, there is Jill Biden. :smokin:
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@LMAO
Did you miss the part about him being a French store clerk selling stuff like shoes in Paris?
So people who sell shoes in Paris are communist? You said the store clerk was a communist. I see nothing in the article that mentions anything about his political leanings.
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“reliable store clerk”
Reporting in the modern age...
Right
What makes the store clerk “reliable?”
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Please reread my comment. In part, I was being sarcastic, because I'd never have a problem with rich people spending their money. It helps the rest of us make a living. Without that, we would be scratching along trying to make the 'big score' from someone poorer and that just would not work.
Besides, is the wife of the Ukrainian President supposed to go on diplomatic junkets (which is what that was, basically, looking for funding) in sackcloth and ashes? Blue jeans with holes in them? Homespun? She would not be likely to even get in the building, much less meet with people with the sort of influence and money the country needs to continue to resist the Russians.
We would never send a First Lady overseas wearing flour sack skirts (unless they were haute coture that year and sporting a designer label), so why would anyone gripe about her being well-dressed?
Add to that, and I have yet to see a list of what she bought. For all we know, she bought containers of kids clothes, but even if she didn't, so what?
It’s hard to take an accusation seriously that comes from nothing more than a “reliable store clerk” in Paris
But if true, it is bad optics. Especially while the standard of living of average people in many of these countries that are helping finance this war decline.
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JAFO2010....
Quote
If a girl is not married by the time she is 18, she is an old maid.
sneakypete...
Horse Hillary. Once again,take a trip to Russia and do some mingling with the locals. Russians are slaves to the state,and they all know it. Most seem to be unhappy about this,but like us,they don't know what to do about it.
You do not know life in Russia. I do! I have been there a number of times. What I portrayed is reality, particularly outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. These two cities are more cosmopolitan like most cities across the world, but outside of those cities, Russia is like something out of the 1930s in America, where a girl thinks of herself as an old maid if not married at 18 years of age. A true village mentality. Like portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof.
And most Russians would NOT say they are slaves to anything, any more than most Americans would say they are slaves to anything or anyone. They believe they have free lives, just like you believe. Fact is they do not have the freedoms we have. But they don't know any better. And there are parts of Russia that are still controlled by communists, where the communist party remains in power, Lenin's statue with the outstretched hand still stands in the city square.
And yes, Putin controls the media, but just like here in the USA, where tens of millions listen to ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc, and they believe the garbage they are spewing, so too, the Russian people listen to their news and believe what they are told. Literally no different than many in the USA. Yes, Putin controls the media there, but they rely on their preferred source just like Americans listen to the above news agencies and believe their garbage. No difference!!!!!
And as Elon Musk is proving in a glaring fashion, the American people have been manipulated dramatically in what is reality. For me, it is not rocket science the FACT that the Biden Crime Family is completely controlled by the CCP. They sold their soul to the CCP and they are completely owned. What is traitorous is that no one in Congress is questioning this. And don't hold your breath for Republicans to get to the root of anything either. More Trey Goofy investigations that lead to a big NOTHING BURGER!!!!! What ever came of the Benghazi investigation? NOTHING!!!!!!!
I was dead on accurate with my assessment on Ukraine. Just like the USA, where people believe what they are told by their media, the Russians believe what is happening in Ukraine is justified, that they are freeing people from the yoke of Ukrainian Azov Nazis. They are sending their sons to die in huge numbers while Putin tells them hundreds have died, not tens of thousands, now over 100 thousand, as our media reports. AND I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT NUMBER ANY MORE THAN I BELIEVE THE RUSSIAN/PUTIN NUMBERS.
But rest assured, Ukraine will be prepared, and now there are American troops on the ground in Ukraine that will be working Patriot missiles. According to what I heard, it will be our guys and not Ukrainians working those Patriot batteries. So, we are just a few steps and decisions away from being fully immersed into this conflict.
I believe we are closer to nuclear war today than we ever were back in JFK's day. We have a POTUS dead from the neck up and WHOEVER is actually running this country, for he sure as hell isn't, and we have Putin who has acted totally irrational ever since this invasion of Ukraine started.
And pete, who is saying Putin is ill, our trustworthy media? Please, they lie with the best attorneys I ever knew. Can't trust our media any more than one can trust the Russian media. Both are corrupt and controlled. Look what is happening to Musk in telling what amounts to the UGLY TRUTH to the liberal morons.
I tell you, the single greatest fraud perpetrated upon the American people is the threat of Russia. Yes, they have nukes, but they are far more afraid of us and really are not the fire breathing tiger we have been led to believe for 70 years. They are a paper tiger. Ukraine after recovering from the surprise attack, and before Europe and the USA gave them anything was pushing the Russians back. Putin thought he had a 5-20 day engagement, and would end with total victory, and the Ukrainians are pushing the Russians around with competent forces while the Russians appear clearly untrained, disorganized, and unwilling to carry out Putin's desire to conquer Ukraine.
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You do not know life in Russia. I do! I have been there a number of times. What I portrayed is reality, particularly outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. These two cities are more cosmopolitan like most cities across the world, but outside of those cities, Russia is like something out of the 1930s in America, where a girl thinks of herself as an old maid if not married at 18 years of age. A true village mentality. Like portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof.
And most Russians would NOT say they are slaves to anything, any more than most Americans would say they are slaves to anything or anyone. They believe they have free lives, just like you believe. Fact is they do not have the freedoms we have. But they don't know any better. And there are parts of Russia that are still controlled by communists, where the communist party remains in power, Lenin's statue with the outstretched hand still stands in the city square.
And yes, Putin controls the media, but just like here in the USA, where tens of millions listen to ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc, and they believe the garbage they are spewing, so too, the Russian people listen to their news and believe what they are told. Literally no different than many in the USA. Yes, Putin controls the media there, but they rely on their preferred source just like Americans listen to the above news agencies and believe their garbage. No difference!!!!!
And as Elon Musk is proving in a glaring fashion, the American people ahve been manipulated dramatically in what is reality. For me, it is not rocket science the FACT that the Biden Crime Family is completely controlled by the CCP. They sold their soul to the CCP and they are completely owned. What is traitorous is that no one in Congress is questioning this. And don't hold your breath for Republicans to get to the root of anything either. More Trey Goofy investigations that lead to a big NOTHING BURGER!!!!! What ever came of the Benghazi investigation? NOTHING!!!!!!!
I was dead on accurate with my assessment on Ukraine. Jus like the USA, where people believe what they are told by their media, the Russians believe what is happening in Ukraine is justified, that they are freeing people from the yoke of Ukrainian Azov Nazis. They are sending their sons to die in huge numbers while Putin tells them hundreds have died, not tens of thousands, now over 100 thousand, as our media reports. AND I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT NUMBER ANY MORE THAN I BELIEVE THE RUSSIAN/PUTIN NUMBERS.
But rest assured, Ukraine will be prepared, and now there are American troops on the ground in Ukraine that will be working Patriot missiles. According to what I heard, it will be our guys and not Ukrainians working those Patriot batteries. So, we are just a few steps and decisions away from being fully immersed into this conflict.
I believe we are closer to nuclear war today than we ever were back in JFK's day. We have a POTUS dead from the neck up and WHOEVER is actually running this country, for he sure as hell isn't, and we have Putin who has acted totally irrational ever since this invasion of Ukraine started.
And pete, who is saying Putin is ill, our trustworthy media? Please, they lie with the best attorneys I ever knew. Can't trust our media any more than one can trust the Russian media. Both are corrupt and controlled. Look what is happening to Musk in telling what amounts to the UGLY TRUTH to the liberal morons.
I tell you, the single greatest fraud perpetrated upon the American people is the threat of Russia. Yes, they have nukes, but they are far more afraid of us and really are not the fire breathing tiger we have been led to believe for 70 years. They are a paper tiger. Ukraine after recovering from the surprise attack, and before Europe and the USA gave them anything was pushing the Russians back. Putin thought he had a 5-20 day engagement, and would end with total victory, and the Ukrainians are pushing the Russians around with competent forces while the Russians appear clearly untrained, disorganized, and unwilling to carry out Putin's desire to conquer Ukraine.
Good post @jafo2010
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Right
What makes the store clerk “reliable?”
What makes anyone believe there is a store clerk?
Hearsay is bad enough. But here, you don't even have that. No one is saying that they spoke to the store clerk who made this claim.
This story is a freaking joke. Can't believe anyone bit on something this weak. No statements. No quotes. No photos. No GPS traces. Nothing. Just a claim and a made-up attribution of someone with no proof of existence.
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Please reread my comment. In part, I was being sarcastic, because I'd never have a problem with rich people spending their money. It helps the rest of us make a living. Without that, we would be scratching along trying to make the 'big score' from someone poorer and that just would not work.
Besides, is the wife of the Ukrainian President supposed to go on diplomatic junkets (which is what that was, basically, looking for funding) in sackcloth and ashes? Blue jeans with holes in them? Homespun? She would not be likely to even get in the building, much less meet with people with the sort of influence and money the country needs to continue to resist the Russians.
We would never send a First Lady overseas wearing flour sack skirts (unless they were haute coture that year and sporting a designer label), so why would anyone gripe about her being well-dressed?
Add to that, and I have yet to see a list of what she bought. For all we know, she bought containers of kids clothes, but even if she didn't, so what?
@Smokin Joe
Please accept my sincere apologies. Somehow,I missed that when I read your post.
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Then again, there is Jill Biden. :smokin:
@Free Vulcan
Yeah,but couch material is cool!
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So people who sell shoes in Paris are communist? You said the store clerk was a communist. I see nothing in the article that mentions anything about his political leanings.
@LMAO
You ain't my mama,so with all due respect,ESAD,bubba.
I have a right to my opinions,and I suspect I have done more foreign traveling and dealt with more foreigners on their home turf than you.
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@LMAO
You ain't my mama,so with all due respect,ESAD,bubba.
I have a right to my opinions,and I suspect I have done more foreign traveling and dealt with more foreigners on their home turf than you.
I asked you to back your claim of the store clerk being a Communists and, as usually, you couldn't. I don't care how much foreign travelling you've done as it's irrelevant to the story
Why can't you admit you really don't know the store clerks political leanings( assuming the story is true)?
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You do not know life in Russia. I do! I have been there a number of times.
@jafo2010
Well,I have only been there twice,for a month at a time both visits. I freely admit to remaining in Moscow on the first trip,but went to a VERY historically interesting city named Yoshkar-Ola for the second trip.
What I portrayed is reality, particularly outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. These two cities are more cosmopolitan like most cities across the world, but outside of those cities, Russia is like something out of the 1930s in America, where a girl thinks of herself as an old maid if not married at 18 years of age. A true village mentality. Like portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof.
When did you go there,during the 1950's
And most Russians would NOT say they are slaves to anything, any more than most Americans would say they are slaves to anything or anyone.
Of course not. They have self-pride,and they are NOT slaves,but they ARE,or at least WERE virtual slaves during the Soviet era,and government under the Putin cabal is nothing less than "Soviet Russia,Part 2"
They believe they have free lives, just like you believe.
ROFLMAO! Are you SURE you were in Russia?
Fact is they do not have the freedoms we have. But they don't know any better.
Total BullBush. My friend,Vladimar in Yoshkar-Ola grew up as the son of a KGB Colonel,mostly in East Germany. He told me stuff like growing up in a household so paranoid his father had his own phone tapped so he could make sure his chilren weren't saying anything that could cause the family trouble. He laughed as he told me about building a radio at home and going up on the rooftop of his apartment building at night to listen to western rock music.
His wife,Natalia,is part Native,one of the few left living there since Stalin "urbanized" Russia by moving almost everyone into the cities and creating industrial centers in order to build up industry to make Communism "more appealing and prove it was a successful way to run a government.
She was half "Mari",and the Mari were the original peoples of Yoskhar-Ola,which translated means something like "Red Land". Everybody seems to be unsure if the "red" was in reference to the clay or the skin color of the locals.
Natalia is semi-famous in Russia for creating the very first Mari language dictionary,and was a language professor at the local college.
Natalia got all excited when I told her I was part-Indian,and when I asked her why,she sent me an email of the Mari Museum and the exhibits there. Which really did freak me out because there were red people with big noses posing in front of teepees and birch-bark canoes while wearing deer skin shirts and pants,and wearing feathers in their hair.
BTW,there is a tribe of reindeer herders living in the norther part of one of the Scandanavian countries that are related to the Mari,and once the USSR collapsed,they used to pay Natalia to go there every summer and teach Mari language classes.
Vladimir was (he is dead now) a MAJOR gun freak,and was fascinated about me being a gunsmith in the US,and wanted to know all about it. The first night I visited him and Natalia in their aparmentment ,after dinner he takes down a huge book that was the Russian version of "guns of the world",and started asking me questions about which guns I owned. I would mention one,and he would say something like "Oh,yes! That is on page 318!",and turn to that page and ask me about them.
When I reminded him that since the collapse of the USSR it was now legal for him to own actual firearms instead of just the BB gun he owned,he got a serious look on his face and said "Yes,that is true,but suppose the Communists take over again and make it illegal to own them?" I would be arrested as a gun owner,and be sent off to a prison camp in the north!"
I lost track with Natalia after Valdimir died. She moved to St.Petersburg to live with her sister.
And there are parts of Russia that are still controlled by communists, where the communist party remains in power, Lenin's statue with the outstretched hand still stands in the city square.
The same can be said for the US. I think the US statue of Lenin is in Portland,but may be wrong.
And yes, Putin controls the media, but just like here in the USA, where tens of millions listen to ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc, and they believe the garbage they are spewing, so too, the Russian people listen to their news and believe what they are told. Literally no different than many in the USA. Yes, Putin controls the media there, but they rely on their preferred source just like Americans listen to the above news agencies and believe their garbage. No difference!!!!!
Yes,there is. The people who were born and grew up in the old Soviet Union KNOW exactly what it is like to live in a actual police state. It's not a theory to them.
And as Elon Musk is proving in a glaring fashion,
From what little I actually know about him,he is to be admired as one of the world's biggest "game changers".
I was dead on accurate with my assessment on Ukraine. Jus like the USA, where people believe what they are told by their media, the Russians believe what is happening in Ukraine is justified, that they are freeing people from the yoke of Ukrainian Azov Nazis. They are sending their sons to die in huge numbers while Putin tells them hundreds have died, not tens of thousands, now over 100 thousand, as our media reports. AND I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT NUMBER ANY MORE THAN I BELIEVE THE RUSSIAN/PUTIN NUMBERS.
That is almost laughable. You are posting this to a man that stood inside a Hotel in downtown Moscow while Yeltin was running for election,and watching and listening to the Communist Party candidate give an election speech while standing on the deck of a large flatbed truck. I was watching and listening to what the CCN talking head was saying,and asking the Russian businessmen in the lobby what the Soviet candidate was actually saying. What the guy was actually saying and what CNN said he was saying weren't even distant relatives.
It was really something to see and hear,the guy on the truck would say something,and the Russians snorting and laughing at the lies in "real time"
Another example was the video footage and the way CNN reported the "massive support he is getting". What was really being shown on tv in the west was a roped off area where the CP fans were herded together to protest against Yeltsin and waving signs supporting Communism. If you listened to CNN,you would think the commie was getting MASSIVE support from Russian citizens,but if you were there,you could clearly see the protestors,who were kept away by the Russian police,outnumbered the pro-communist candidate by a massive amount.
Also,the police surrounding the CP candidate were there to protect him from the protestors,not because,as CNN suggested,the police supported Communism.
Another thing not reported much was the massive number of Orthodox Russian priests and nuns that were there to support Communism. The Patriarch of the Holy Russian Church was there and was prominent leading the pro-communist parade after the speeches ended.
Did you know that "Russian Orthodox Priest"was actually a KGB career field? The Communists just closed SOME of the churches,not all of them. They wanted to keep some open so they would be aware of any dissent and get the names of the troublemakers. The Russians in the hotel lobby told me all this to explain why the Patriarch would show public support for Communism. The Communists kept him in power by banning all other religions. If you needed to be forgiven of your sins,you pretty much had to confess them to a Party Member.
When I laughingly told them "Supply me with a belt-fed machine gun and a few good ammo bearers,and I will clean up this little problem for you!",they all laughed and offered to buy me drinks.
But rest assured, Ukraine will be prepared, and now there are American troops on the ground in Ukraine that will be working Patriot missiles. According to what I heard, it will be our guys and not Ukrainians working those Patriot batteries. So, we are just a few steps and decisions away from being fully immersed into this conflict.
I gotta admit,I am STRONGLY opposed to both those missiles being on the ground there,but not as strongly as I am opposed to American troops being there and firing them. This is a MAJOR step too far!
I believe we are closer to nuclear war today than we ever were back in JFK's day. We have a POTUS dead from the neck up and WHOEVER is actually running this country, for he sure as hell isn't, and we have Putin who has acted totally irrational ever since this invasion of Ukraine started.
I really do wish I could argue with that,but I can't.
And pete, who is saying Putin is ill, our trustworthy media? Please, they lie with the best attorneys I ever knew. Can't trust our media any more than one can trust the Russian media. Both are corrupt and controlled. Look what is happening to Musk in telling what amounts to the UGLY TRUTH to the liberal morons.
Valid points,but I tend to thing that Putin really does have some serious health issues now. Knowing what happens to Russian leaders that fail and make "Mother Russia" look both weak and bad is enough to give anyone health issues.
Well,maybe not Biden,but he doesn't even know where he is half the time.
I tell you, the single greatest fraud perpetrated upon the American people is the threat of Russia. Yes, they have nukes, but they are far more afraid of us and really are not the fire breathing tiger we have been led to believe for 70 years. They are a paper tiger.
I am in agreement with you on this one,but it's like facing off with a junkie who has a shotgun. We all KNOW that junkies are NOT the most clever people in the world,but is the shotgun loaded or not?
Ukraine after recovering from the surprise attack, and before Europe and the USA gave them anything was pushing the Russians back. Putin thought he had a 5-20 day engagement, and would end with total victory, and the Ukrainians are pushing the Russians around with competent forces while the Russians appear clearly untrained, disorganized, and unwilling to carry out Putin's desire to conquer Ukraine.
I agree,and frankly,I am surprised he hasn't already succumbed to a "surprise fatal heart attack".
Don't forget,the ego of the Neo-Soviet leader is massive,and they have more to lose than anyone if Russia fails. Desperate fools do desperate things,and there can be NO question that the Neo-Soviets have plenty of rockets with nuclear warheads. Desperate people tend to do desperate things when they get scared.
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@Smokin Joe
Please accept my sincere apologies. Somehow,I missed that when I read your post.
No harm, no foul :beer: