wwkirk
Divine
Great book!
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I think the real problem is in the South China Sea. Not Ukraine. Might be wrong.
So, if Russia decides it needs to invade it'll be to obtain complete overland access to the Crimea, IMO to reap the benefit of the huge oil and natural in the Black Sea deposits plus finally give them the warm water port they have desired for decades. Incidentally, global warming is probably welcomed by the Russians - it'll give them options in the Arctic they never had before and that has been a 'batleground' of sorts for decades without most of us ever hearing about it. In the event of real invasion, does anyone really believe that the EU will send troops and actually go to war with the country currently supplying almost half of their energy needs? The Germans sure as hell won't, they want Nord Stream 2.
The Ukrainians don't seem to be quite as worried.
Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
Ukrainian authorities, however, have sought to project calm. Speaking in the second televised speech to the nation in as many days, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to panic.
“We are strong enough to keep everything under control and derail any attempts at destabilization,” he said.
The decision by the U.S., Britain, Australia, Germany and Canada to withdraw some of their diplomats and dependents from Kyiv “doesn’t necessarily signal an inevitable escalation and is part of a complex diplomatic game,” he said. ”We are working together with our partners as a single team.”
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told parliament that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” Russia will invade imminently, noting that its troops have not formed what he called a battle group to force its way over the border.
“Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. “No need to have your bags packed.”
In an interview late Monday, however, he acknowledged “risky scenarios” are possible.
Biden jammed both feet in his mouth and this is the reaction, targeted at western media not necessarily the Russians. We went from 'minor incursion' and 'troops not an option' to suddenly it's the 101st Airborne ready to hold Bastogne. Jesus, it seems obvious but we are at the whim of media that is a lot of things but 'free' and 'objective' are not necessarily among them.
When South African scientists said they had discovered omicron and that it was a far milder version that might actually help curb the pandemic absolutely nothing like that made it into our media. More lockdowns, control, fucking jabs in the arm.
Again, you want to look for a whiff of real armed conflict it'll be over Taiwan. Not in some huge invasion, more in the form of small incidents. You have that many warships and planes operating in proximity to one another that's a recipe for problems. Over the course of the Cold War hundreds if not thousands of NATO, Soviet and Chinese servicemen lost their lives in obscure incidents that never made it into a news cycle. I don't think we have the option now to keep stuff like that quiet.
So, if Russia decides it needs to invade it'll be to obtain complete overland access to the Crimea, IMO to reap the benefit of the huge oil and natural in the Black Sea deposits plus finally give them the warm water port they have desired for decades. Incidentally, global warming is probably welcomed by the Russians - it'll give them options in the Arctic they never had before and that has been a 'batleground' of sorts for decades without most of us ever hearing about it. In the event of real invasion, does anyone really believe that the EU will send troops and actually go to war with the country currently supplying almost half of their energy needs? The Germans sure as hell won't, they want Nord Stream 2.
The Ukrainians don't seem to be quite as worried.
Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent
Ukrainian authorities, however, have sought to project calm. Speaking in the second televised speech to the nation in as many days, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to panic.
“We are strong enough to keep everything under control and derail any attempts at destabilization,” he said.
The decision by the U.S., Britain, Australia, Germany and Canada to withdraw some of their diplomats and dependents from Kyiv “doesn’t necessarily signal an inevitable escalation and is part of a complex diplomatic game,” he said. ”We are working together with our partners as a single team.”
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told parliament that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” Russia will invade imminently, noting that its troops have not formed what he called a battle group to force its way over the border.
“Don’t worry, sleep well,” he said. “No need to have your bags packed.”
In an interview late Monday, however, he acknowledged “risky scenarios” are possible.
Biden jammed both feet in his mouth and this is the reaction, targeted at western media not necessarily the Russians. We went from 'minor incursion' and 'troops not an option' to suddenly it's the 101st Airborne ready to hold Bastogne. Jesus, it seems obvious but we are at the whim of media that is a lot of things but 'free' and 'objective' are not necessarily among them.
When South African scientists said they had discovered omicron and that it was a far milder version that might actually help curb the pandemic absolutely nothing like that made it into our media. More lockdowns, control, fucking jabs in the arm.
Again, you want to look for a whiff of real armed conflict it'll be over Taiwan. Not in some huge invasion, more in the form of small incidents. You have that many warships and planes operating in proximity to one another that's a recipe for problems. Over the course of the Cold War hundreds if not thousands of NATO, Soviet and Chinese servicemen lost their lives in obscure incidents that never made it into a news cycle. I don't think we have the option now to keep stuff like that quiet.
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Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Taiwan is x10 times more important then Ukraine.
nivek
As Above So Below
Biden is giving the appearance of a warmonger now, why couldn't he be this bullheaded with the Taliban?...
Biden warns he will deploy troops WITHOUT NATO's backing: President issues limp declaration that he will move 'not too many' troops to Eastern Europe 'in the near term' but not as part of NATO force as members fail to agree on action
President Biden signaled Friday evening that he does plan to move troops to Eastern Europe , even as Ukrainian officials are publicly downplaying U.S. assessments of imminent Russian invasion. 'I'll be moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not too many,' Biden said as he de-planed Air Force One after a trip to Pittsburgh. Earlier this week the Pentagon told 8,500 troops here in the U.S. to be on high alert for a potential deployment to Eastern Europe, as Russia has already amassed over 100,000 troops at the Ukraine border.
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Biden warns he will deploy troops WITHOUT NATO's backing: President issues limp declaration that he will move 'not too many' troops to Eastern Europe 'in the near term' but not as part of NATO force as members fail to agree on action
President Biden signaled Friday evening that he does plan to move troops to Eastern Europe , even as Ukrainian officials are publicly downplaying U.S. assessments of imminent Russian invasion. 'I'll be moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not too many,' Biden said as he de-planed Air Force One after a trip to Pittsburgh. Earlier this week the Pentagon told 8,500 troops here in the U.S. to be on high alert for a potential deployment to Eastern Europe, as Russia has already amassed over 100,000 troops at the Ukraine border.
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AD1184
Celestial
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Yes. Depending of Germany, Turkey and France to get 'er done. Oh sure, that'll be fine.
Nope.
BTW - the president of Ukraine is pointing out the vast difference between western press and the reality on the ground. Asking us to please lighten up or we'll unhinge their economy. Since when has our media been concerned with reality?
I always thought Uhura's line 'this isn't reality, it's fantasy' as she stuffed the young ensign in the closet at gunpoint was hokey and awkward. Nichelle Nichols has said as much. I guess I just didn't realize that it was incredibly prescient.
Nope.
BTW - the president of Ukraine is pointing out the vast difference between western press and the reality on the ground. Asking us to please lighten up or we'll unhinge their economy. Since when has our media been concerned with reality?
I always thought Uhura's line 'this isn't reality, it's fantasy' as she stuffed the young ensign in the closet at gunpoint was hokey and awkward. Nichelle Nichols has said as much. I guess I just didn't realize that it was incredibly prescient.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Yeah, well how organic that 'new autonomous state' in Crimea is has certainly been subject to debate as it came at of the barrel of a gun.
Was Ukraine's nuclear arsenal actually completely eliminated?
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Russia is not a problem. Putin is the problem.
He had done a great job, but he overstayed his welcome. He's rigging elections and jailing opposition leaders to stay in power, while economy is languishing. Without his outdated ideas about nationalistic grandeur, Russia would re-join it's European family and prosper in peace. Maybe even join NATO.
Russian economy is only of size of New York's or South Korea's economy. Its Waco idea to have imperial ambitions with low-to-medium size economy. Even UK, Germany, France & Japan are not big enough to run empires any more.
He had done a great job, but he overstayed his welcome. He's rigging elections and jailing opposition leaders to stay in power, while economy is languishing. Without his outdated ideas about nationalistic grandeur, Russia would re-join it's European family and prosper in peace. Maybe even join NATO.
Russian economy is only of size of New York's or South Korea's economy. Its Waco idea to have imperial ambitions with low-to-medium size economy. Even UK, Germany, France & Japan are not big enough to run empires any more.
nivek
As Above So Below
I think Biden is using this Russian/Ukraine situation in an attempt to draw attention away from American domestic issues which there are a multitude of those currently in the US, many of his own doing, although some inherited...Furthermore, there are concerns Biden may get involved in a military conflict with Russia because he's carrying the mindset that this would unite Americans more, which if true, then in doing so he is losing sight of the greater problems and repercussions such a conflict would create for the world...
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Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Yeah, Bidden is trying to draw attention away from the fact that even Democrats consider him as a weak president.
- - - - - - - -
By the way, if war between Russia & Ukraine really breaks out, it might be a rude awakening for Russia.
Nature of wars had drastically changed over the last 10 years as recent Nagorny Carabagh war had shown. Wars are now fought with drones, soldiers and armoured vehicles are marginal liability. Ukraine having an open western border with NATO can receive an unlimited supply of the most modern weapons, including drones. And, indeed, Ukraine allegedly received few thousand most advanced anti-tank missiles from UK. Russian troupes are ill prepared for warfare with high-tech adversaries and will suffer very high losses.
Recent 100 years history repeatedly had shown that Russia is paper tiger that keeps loosing wars against both smaller and bigger countries. Just before WW2 Russia lost twice against smaller Finland and once against smaller Poland and once against ridiculously small Afghanistan. Even in tiny Chechnya Russia lost first war. And at a beginning of 20th century Russia readily lost against Japan in 1905 and it lost huge parts of it's best territory to Germany in 1914. When it comes to WW2 Russia didn't really 'win' against Germany, but Russia was on the 'winning' side against Germany. Any WW2 victory of Russia came as a result of the fact that Germans diluted their military strength and were ( like idiots ) fighting on two fronts in two successive wars, WW1 & WW2.
Realistically Russia is a second rate military power that trudges along by picking up some slack from fact that nobody wants to start fight with it because it will end up in a nuclear war. I mean, Russia currently has 15 semi-stealth aircraft prototypes, when fully stealth planes count in their hundreds on the NATO side.
Its well known amongst anybody who's following military matters that Russian military counts on it's size not on it's quality. Russian military is purely trained, purely equipped with modern weapons and most likely the end result of conflict with Ukraine ( that receives high-tech weapons from the West ) will be a succession of embarrassing losses that would lead to Putin's fall from power. Exactly in the same way as Russian Tzar's power shook in 1905 because he lost war against Japan.
We'll see.
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pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
As a history geek I could bandy a couple of those points around. Germany made the mistake of underestimating the brutal calculus that Stalin was capable of and the depth of their resources. Given time to recover the Russians actually made excellent technical progress. Easy example - understanding Christie's tractor tread designs before his own country did and incorporating them into the T-34. They are quite innovative, especially under pressure. Were it not for that your situation would be very different and the area I'm sitting in right now likely irradiated. Given the time to recover they did most of the real killing in that conflict - north of 80% of it was fought on the Ostfront. When they did get into the ground war in Manchuria with Japan at the very end they literally ground them to paste with a massive qualitative and quantitative army.
But in 2022 the Red Army isn't what it was by any stretch of the imagination. A tiny professional core and a lot of conscripts, people serving out limited terms of enlistment.
Did you read that Irish fisherman cause the Russkies to relocate their intentionally provocative sea exercises ?
Russia Agrees To Move Naval Exercises Away From Irish Coast After Outcry
Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Standingstones
Celestial
A house about a mile down the road from me finally removed their Trump flag, The local donut shop also removed their large Trump sign. I can’t imagine that was pulling in more business.
On another note, there are a number of “F##k Biden” signs up locally.
On another note, there are a number of “F##k Biden” signs up locally.
michael59
Celestial
We can't go to war. We can hardly find a loaf of bread that isn't stale on the grocery shelves.
Wow, do you guy think this drawn out pandemic was a distraction tactic so they could set this war into fruition? People get rich off wars ya know that to be fact. And it would not be the first time shit like this has snuck (yes, snuck is a word) up on us because they distracted us with other things.
This is a clip of Dave Chappelle. It is raw, gritty and offensive. I have decided to post it here to further my point regarding distracting the people while our leaders sneak around behind our backs.
The relevent part starts around 3:40...
I'm not saying there was no virus. I am saying maybe it didn't need to be dragged out to the point where all our livelihoods are in danger of collapsing. How do we fix it? War.
Wow, do you guy think this drawn out pandemic was a distraction tactic so they could set this war into fruition? People get rich off wars ya know that to be fact. And it would not be the first time shit like this has snuck (yes, snuck is a word) up on us because they distracted us with other things.
This is a clip of Dave Chappelle. It is raw, gritty and offensive. I have decided to post it here to further my point regarding distracting the people while our leaders sneak around behind our backs.
The relevent part starts around 3:40...
I'm not saying there was no virus. I am saying maybe it didn't need to be dragged out to the point where all our livelihoods are in danger of collapsing. How do we fix it? War.
nivek
As Above So Below
Are we seeing the beginnings of WW3?...
American firepower lands in Poland as Senators call Ukraine tensions 'Europe's biggest threat since 1945': 82nd Airborne leads 3,000 troops and armored vehicles onto bases after China backed Putin in NATO spat
U.S. paratroopers, armored vehicles and jets arrived in Poland on Friday as part of the deployment of 3,000 troops into Eastern Europe in a major show of force to try to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine. Some of the lethal military equipment the U.S. is moving into Eastern Europe was on display, as the military positions the first troops meant to shore up NATO allies amid Russia's continuing troop buildup along the Ukrainian border. More than 200 pieces of equipment including wheeled Stryker combat vehicles from the Army national Guard 1st Battalion, 185th Infantry regiment could be seen being unloaded at the port of Gdyna in Poland Friday. The U.S. is sending 2,000 troops from the U.S. to Poland and Germany, where military already maintains a substantial presence, while repositioning another 1,000 troops to Romania. The troops join roughly 4,000 that are already stationed in various parts of Poland, including hundreds of soldiers that are supporting a NATO mission, 50 miles from Russian-controlled Kaliningrad. Military transport aircraft carrying U.S. soldiers and equipment also were seen landing in Poland.
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American firepower lands in Poland as Senators call Ukraine tensions 'Europe's biggest threat since 1945': 82nd Airborne leads 3,000 troops and armored vehicles onto bases after China backed Putin in NATO spat
U.S. paratroopers, armored vehicles and jets arrived in Poland on Friday as part of the deployment of 3,000 troops into Eastern Europe in a major show of force to try to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine. Some of the lethal military equipment the U.S. is moving into Eastern Europe was on display, as the military positions the first troops meant to shore up NATO allies amid Russia's continuing troop buildup along the Ukrainian border. More than 200 pieces of equipment including wheeled Stryker combat vehicles from the Army national Guard 1st Battalion, 185th Infantry regiment could be seen being unloaded at the port of Gdyna in Poland Friday. The U.S. is sending 2,000 troops from the U.S. to Poland and Germany, where military already maintains a substantial presence, while repositioning another 1,000 troops to Romania. The troops join roughly 4,000 that are already stationed in various parts of Poland, including hundreds of soldiers that are supporting a NATO mission, 50 miles from Russian-controlled Kaliningrad. Military transport aircraft carrying U.S. soldiers and equipment also were seen landing in Poland.
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