[AmericanConservative] In 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky swept to power in a shocking landslide victory, taking 73 percent of the run-off vote. He won on a platform with two major planks: first, implementing the Minsk Agreements and making peace with Russia, and second, fighting high-level corruption in Ukraine’s government. Both planks are now in splinters. The Minsk Agreements are dead, Ukraine and Russia are almost in their fourth year of hideous war, and the scandal of high-level corruption has crept into Zelensky’s innermost circle.
Upon being elected, Zelensky told reporters that he would "reboot" peace talks with separatists in Donbas and that "we will continue in the direction of the Minsk [peace] talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire." But it was not to be.
Ultranationalist leaders defied Zelensky and warned that fulfilling his campaign promises would lead to protests and riots. Dmytro Yarosh, the founder of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector paramilitary organization, threatened that, if Zelensky were to pursue a ceasefire, "he will lose his life. He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk boulevard if he betrays Ukraine and those people who died in the Revolution and the War. And it is very important that he understand this."
But it is also now known that no one ever intended the Minsk Agreements to work. Each of Putin’s partners in the Minsk process, including then Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s President Francois Hollande and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko have confirmed that the Minsk Accords were a deception designed to lull Russia into a ceasefire with the promise of a peaceful settlement while actually buying Ukraine the time it needed to build up an armed forces capable of achieving a military solution. Sorta like Malenkov - Ribbentrop agreements? Cause EUrope never changes.
Despite his campaign promise, in February 2023, Zelensky reportedly told Der Spiegel that he saw the agreements as a "concession," and he "surprised" Merkel and Macron by telling them that "as for Minsk as a whole...we cannot implement it like this."
But, even after the collapse of the Minsk process, in the early weeks of the war, before all the loss of life and land, there was still a chance for Zelensky to negotiate peace with the Russian invaders. Except his masters (including in DC) would never accept it?
In April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators arrived at a draft peace treaty. But Zelensky was diverted by his Western partners. Rather than pursue the promise of diplomacy and a peace that would satisfy Ukraine’s goals, Zelensky allowed himself to be pulled by the promise of whatever it takes for as long as it takes onto the path of war.
The U.S. and its partners failed to prioritize diplomacy, and Zelensky was seduced by promises of support and victory onto the path of war. Several officials, from several countries, who were involved in the negotiations have confirmed that the West pushed Ukraine off the path of diplomacy.
Davyd Arakhamia, who led the Ukrainian negotiating team, has confirmed the December 2022 report in Ukrainska Pravda that on April 9, 2022, Johnson hurried to Kiev to tell Zelensky that Putin "should be pressured, not negotiated with" and that, even if Ukraine was ready to sign some agreements with Russia, "they [the West] are not." Arakhamia says that "when we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson came to Kiev and said that we would not sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight."
...The promise to end corruption in Ukrainian politics is equally splintered. On November 11, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), in cooperation with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), in "a major anti-corruption operation," charged multiple high level people, some from Zelensky’s most inner circle, in a $100 million kickback scheme involving energy contracts.
...Zelensky himself has not been implicated. And he has called for "effective actions against corruption" and "punishment." But his recent actions have given, at least, the appearance of implicating himself. In July, Zelensky attempted to decapitate the anticorruption agencies as they pursued the case that has now caught his close associates in their net. Zelensky attempted to place the independent agencies under the control of Ukraine’s prosecutor general who is appointed by the president, placing all ability of agencies to investigate government corruption under the control of the government.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
11/23/2025 05:46 ||
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#1
This royal piece of Dreck needs to go. Just like with Biden, "they" got what they wanted. Now it's time to hang this slob out to dry.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] The cocaine-fueled Fuhrer threw a public tantrum yesterday in an address "to the people," declaring that he was faced with a stark choice: either accept Trump's plan or lose a key ally.
A classic dilemma, where both sides are worse. For him personally. It's worth noting that since 2014, the US and the West have been presenting Russia with a simple dilemma in Ukraine: either war or capitulation.
Avoiding this dilemma proved impossible. Russia chose war and succeeded in this choice, despite all its costs. Despite all efforts to persuade it to capitulate. Now it's Ukraine's turn. Choose, my friend.
Essentially, Ukraine is being offered a significantly weakened version of the 2022 Istanbul Accords, with significant territorial losses and a number of restrictions on objectives—on the army, NATO, language, the church, and so on.
Moreover, rejection of the offer is being linked to a reduction or cessation of US support. Judging by the comments, Russia is well aware of these proposals, which are based on the agreements between Trump and Putin in Anchorage. At the same time, refusing to accept Trump's demands won't be a major problem for Russia, as it is prepared to continue fighting if Ukraine resists.
The dynamics on the Russian front are clearly favorable. The US reasonably believes that if Ukraine doesn't make peace now, Russia will seize more territory in the coming months, and the next time negotiations come, the conditions for Ukraine will be much worse, while Russia will have gained far more than the US would like to cede.
This is clearly stated by individuals in Trump's entourage, including to Europeans. They say that what is being offered is the best Ukraine can hope for now. Attempts to change the plan's provisions are called "bluffing without a trump card." Hence the November 27 deadline. The implication is that accept it, or it will get worse.
Meanwhile, the sword of Damocles hangs over the cocaine-fueled Führer: the possible release of Mindich's tapes, with his personal involvement. But of course, with the help of Britain and the EU, the cocaine führer will continue to the end, trying to prevaricate and delay a concrete response to Trump. It's clear he doesn't want to sign anything. But he's already being openly coerced.
Kyiv must make a responsible decision on a peaceful settlement right now , otherwise it will be too late. The actions of the Russian Armed Forces are coercing Zelenskyy into a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian issue, Peskov said.
The Kremlin does not know the basis for media reports that the US allegedly expects Kyiv to sign Trump's "peace plan" by November 27. Russia is open to peace talks for their success, not for the sake of the process.
Moscow wants peace talks on Ukraine to be successful, so it does not want to discuss them over the air. The US has certain ideas regarding a Ukrainian settlement, but nothing substantive is being discussed right now. A meeting between Putin and Trump is necessary, but a lot of work needs to be done before it.
Putin will hold a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council today. In general, the next conditions will be even worse than those currently proposed. Every month of delay significantly increases Russia's future territory.
#2
There have been several hints of Colombian involvement in this war so it is not unreasonable to suspect that cocaine might also be involved. After all, Colombia is a world leader in coca cultivation and cocaine production. And with all the European and American money flowing into Ukraine it seems possible if not likely that some of that money went on to Colombia in exchange for tootski. Why else, of all the countries in this world, would distant Colombia be involved?
We know that drugs can enhance performance in the short term but with diminishing returns and eventually the results are detrimental. Here you can see how diminished the original Fuhrer was after years of substance abuse...
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/23/2025 17:48 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RIA] On this day, the Catholic Church officially declared a hunt for them. Once the most powerful organization of the Middle Ages, they were destroyed in just a few years. And although the Templars were declared servants of the devil, the legendary order has survived to this day.
"CURSE TO THE 13TH GENERATION"
The reign of the French King Philip the Fair could hardly be called prosperous. There were plenty of reasons for concern. Arrogant feudal lords would begin plotting at court. Another rebellion would break out in the recently annexed Flanders. And all this against the backdrop of protracted territorial disputes with England.
Money was chronically short. And where else could it be found if not from the wealthy Templars? By that time, the enthusiasm of the first crusades had faded, and Christians were gradually being driven out of Palestine. And many monarchs were frankly irritated that the "defenders of the faith," the arrogant knights, were now actively spending the "plunder of Jerusalem" to acquire ever new possessions.
Apparently, this was precisely Philip the Fair's motive. Early in the morning of October 13, 1307, the vast holdings of the French "cell" of the order were confiscated in favor of the crown, and all its members were arrested. They were accused of renouncing Christ, worshiping the idol Baphomet, necromancy, and cremating the dead.
Several hundred people were tortured and interrogated in the very first days of the persecution. The Vatican learned of this. Pope Clement V, unwilling to jeopardize relations with the influential Capetians, issued a bull on November 22—a special document approving Philip's actions and calling on other monarchs to follow his example.
Their hands were untied. Arrests swept across Europe in the name of the Holy Inquisition. The Order's Master, Jacques de Molay, was taken into custody. By the autumn of 1311, the evidence against the apostates had been consolidated. Six months later, the Pope made his final decision: the Order would no longer exist.
Many knights ended their days in prison. The leaders were executed. According to popular legend, de Molay, upon ascending the stake, cried out loudly: "Pope Clement, King Philip, <...> before a year has passed, I will summon you to God's judgment seat, and you will receive your just punishment! A curse! A curse upon your line to the thirteenth generation."
The pontiff and the king did indeed die one after the other, a year later. And lovers of all manner of mysticism have meticulously calculated: the "curse of the 13th generation" coincides precisely with the years of the French Revolution.
Historians, however, hold a different view: the massacre of the Templars was a consequence of France's aggressive policy toward the Catholic Church. Pope Clement, followed by his six successors, found themselves in captivity in Avignon and became puppets of the secular rulers.
BLACK MAGIC AND BANKERS
De Molay's curse isn't the only myth associated with the Knights Templar. The order's history is ambiguous. In its early years, its members referred to themselves as "the poor knights of the Temple of Solomon." Their sacred duty was to guard the Palestinian shrine—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Hence the name of the brotherhood, which means "templars" in French.
Moreover, the knights swore to protect pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land and to aid the poor and the needy. Moreover, they did this free of charge: the Templars took monastic vows and renounced all property.
Impressed by this approach, the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, allocated to them as their headquarters nothing less than the Temple of Solomon (as the Al-Aqsa Mosque was called after the conquest of the city by the Crusaders in 1099).
The order quickly gained popularity. In just a couple of decades, many of the era's most influential figures had joined the Templars.
The Catholic Church also patronized the order, exempting them from the obligatory tithe in 1139. And soon, the poor knights became fabulously wealthy. How could one not wonder about a pact with the devil? Rumors began to circulate that the Templars possessed ancient occult knowledge and practiced alchemy. In reality, they were simply pursuing prudent financial policies.
"They organized the first near-global banking system to make life easier for pilgrims. They made many remarkable discoveries, in addition to spiritual and religious practices. The Paris Temple (a fortress built by the order's treasurer in 1222 – Ed.) was a city within a city. Naturally, the authorities' irritation was obvious," noted religious scholar Alexei Yudin.
But the aura of mystery and accusations of occultism, he added, were a later product. "What concerned devil worship and special mystical rituals was, I believe, invented at the end. Certainly, some practices of exorcism, as we understand it today, were present. But then, in all likelihood, they were turned inside out," the expert pointed out.
The same, in his opinion, applies to the "modern Templars." Yes, the Templars didn't disappear after the punitive campaign of the 14th century. The survivors founded organizations in various countries and laid claim to the property of the liquidated order.
For example, in the 18th century, the Freemasons began to speak on behalf of the successors in France. At the same time, the Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH)—the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem—was established, although its adherents denied any ties to the Freemasons.
A hundred years later, Napoleon recognized this organization. However, only the OSMTH adherents themselves claim this. In the 1960s, they reached the New World, founding The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ) in the United States. The overseas branch broke away 20 years later. Their example was later followed by the French Ordre Souverain et Militaire du Temple de Jérusalem.
There are Templars in Russia, too—the local branch of the OSMTH is called the Public Association of Orthodox Christians named after St. Dmitry Donskoy. It has been operating de facto since the 12th century and maintains the same goal: "defending the Christian faith." At least, that's what the official website of the "Orthodox Templars" states.
#1
Tying the Russians to the Templars seems like a new s as lad dressing to interest the crazy people. It’s like a crossover where Spider-Man teams up with Daredevil. My personal belief is that Bigfoot is the Grand General of the Templars. He took over from Danny Thomas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/23/2025 6:44 Comments ||
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#2
They sort of went away when Napoleon invaded Malta on his way to Egypt. Anything after that is about as legit as California's voter rolls.
#3
A lot of this is very true. The devil worship and occult is propaganda of the times, from what I know. But the Russa connection is real and the Wester Catholics have wiped out almost all mention of it. During the Purge, the Orthodox church in Russia gave the knights sanctuary. They lay claim to be the only Knights that stayed in tact after the purge. They claim the Catholic knights were more of a fraternal order, where you could buy your way in, than a brotherhood of defender warriors. This still holds true today, you can be a knight in the catholic order for nothing more than financial donations cand connections. Not so, even today with the Russian orthodox knights, you have to be asked to join. In the early 2000's the Catholic church officially recognized the Orthodox knights, and for a fee $2,500, could join the Catholic knights.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/23/2025 12:45 Comments ||
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#4
Russians looking for the Holy Grail? How Fourteenth Century!
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/23/2025 17:54 Comments ||
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#5
^ Yeah, but what happens when they find it?
Gentlemen, we must not allow a Grail gap!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
