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Fighting the good fight |
Yes, years. This war has been going on since 2014 already. | |||
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| Gracie Allen is my personal savior! |
You could argue it's the last-ditch attempt to prove that Stalinism can solve Russia's problems instead. The Russians' great failure (IMHO) is not developing themselves economically and socially from the grass-roots up. The all-powerful state has long had to ensure that it's the only one allowed to make decisions or take credit for success - and that, I believe, is what's actually at stake in Russia. Now, how does Putin dress that up in 21st century Russia? By claiming it's a crisis, and that it's necessary to preserve the culture and the population that the Soviets spent generations driving towards oblivion. | |||
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Raptorman |
Yep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head  |
President Putin has made comments over the years praising some Soviet Communist leaders while criticizing others. I'm not so sure he is an ideologically committed Communist so much as a commonplace Statist totalitarian dictator. He appears to be perfectly fine with crony capitalism... as long as he gets his cut of the corruption 'windfall' siphoned off the (ignorant) public's trust, while maintaining an iron grip on absolute control of power, with an eye towards restablishing a Russian empire as the best strategy to achieve perceived security and dominance. I've heard some analysts compare him and his plans for Russia more towards being a Czarist than a Communist, although he most definitely grew up exposed to the Soviet Communist mentality and system of government. To be clear, I'm not, in any way, justifying Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It's bad, it's wrong, it affects the world and...AFAIC, it must be stopped at all costs, with whatever resources are needed. No doubt that President Putin has crafted/ fabricated justifications for the invasion, but the Zeihan analysis seems to give the deeper underlying unspoken reasons for President Putin's decision to invade now. I just like to have as clear a picture as possible for why an opponent (anyone really) makes the decisions they do. | |||
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| Member |
There's very few in Russian government, let alone the people themselves, that want communism back. They wishfully lament how things actually functioned and how people were held accountable but, what they really are saying is things today are too complicated and its all because of >insert boogeymen<, with an arrow pointing to 'its the west's fault'. Culturally, Russia has always had strongman in-charge; voting, consensus-by-committee, blyat! They're the model for the phrase, be careful what you wish for when people complain about finding a replacement for the current jerk in-charge. For all the emphasis on the classic arts, engineering, and bureaucracy, there's a constant fall back to the Eastern methods of one tough-guy, his henchmen who enforce & benefit, meanwhile, the people hope there's a benevolent bone amongst them.
We can parse it out any number of ways, the reality is, Russia has problems both in how it functions as a gov and how they culturally view things. The below commentary piece gives some insight into this, take a read, there's a few other nuggets I didn't include. Ukrainians Don't Blame Just Putin For the War. They Blame Russians.
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thin skin can't win |
Listening to a podcast on the whole affair earlier this week or late last. On the points about rational actions the West could and should take, the issue of war crimes came up along with the suddenly popular trend of attributing responsibilities for those directly on Putin personally. The discussion was that while individuals perpetrating these should 100% be prosecuted, assigning the label "War Criminal" to Putin, especially if it included any sort of actual criminal charges by international community, would be a tremendous mistake since it further isolated him and made him even more volatile/dangerous/unpredictable in his seemingly total control environment. The examples included the inability of him to even engage in diplomatic or economic meetings and processes outside of Russia for fear of being arrested wherever he happened to go for these charges. Interesting thoughts. Oh, of course, that night was when I saw the headline that earlier in the day Biden had declared Putin a war criminal. Not sure those were his actual words, but I'm sure it was close. You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02 | |||
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| Freethinker |
I’m not attempting to begin to follow all the debates—some informed, some not—about Putin’s status as a war criminal, and especially not the wisdom of publicly acknowledging what he is. As a point of history, though, it should be recognized that most of those who have been convicted of the charge were not the ones who got their hands bloody by personally committing the acts themselves. Some like Japanese general Homma were convicted basically for allowing crimes to happen under his command, but Putin’s guilt is similar to that of the highest ranking members of the Nazi regime. His directly-ordered action of invading Ukraine without justification was no different than if I had deliberately conspired with and armed a friend to break into my neighbor’s house, murder some of the occupants, and take up unwelcome residence among the survivors. No civilized person would consider that to be anything other than the most heinous of crimes. Anyone who is confused about the subject of war crimes should educate themselves with a bit of history. It isn’t necessary to wield the katana or pull the trigger oneself to be guilty of the crime. And although it is undeniable that most who have committed war crimes were never so much as charged, often for political reasons, that does not mean they weren’t guilty. ► 6.4/93.6 “Cet animal est très méchant, quand on l’attaque il se défend.” | |||
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| wishing we were congress |
Borodyanka another town destroyed video at https://twitter.com/i/status/1511663552041525253 https://hotair.com/allahpundit...e-new-horror-n460522 “The destruction in the centre of Borodyanka is the worst for its size I have seen in any of the towns around Kyiv, including Irpin and Bucha, which were much fought over,” wrote the BBC’s Ukraine war correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, during a visit to the town. Residents are telling him that the damage to apartment buildings was no accident, as those buildings were being targeted on the ground too. And when residents tried digging out survivors from the rubble, they were warned to stop — or else. The air attacks on the apartment buildings appear to have been deliberate. The Russian air force has mostly used “dumb bombs” during the war instead of precision guided munitions for reasons that remain not fully clear, but one woman who was in Borodyanka during an air attack made it sound as though the damage couldn’t have been accidental. “We were sitting in the cellar,” she told the Times. “The plane flew very low. I counted three seconds and the bomb fell.” How likely is it that a low-flying Russian jet would have mistaken a target as large as an apartment building? And what “military targets” were they supposedly after in a town as small (13,000) as Borodyanka, anyway? Russia will probably resort to its old excuse that they thought the Ukrainian military was using the building as a base, which is convenient since it allows them to attack any civilian target with impunity. | |||
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| wishing we were congress |
long long article w lots of pics https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...onvoy-near-Kyiv.html Incredible moment single Ukrainian tank takes on entire Russian convoy, destroying multiple armoured vehicles near Kyiv – but NATO chief warns that Putin has NOT lost his appetite to control the WHOLE country much more covered than the title would indicate | |||
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| Power is nothing without control |
I'm not ignorant of the massive cost in human life that this war is causing, but I can't help finding it interesting in an academic sense. There is lots of very interesting stuff happening tactically, strategically, and politically. The vulnerability of armor and close air support when your opponent has access to even just man-portable systems is being demonstrated viscerally. The use of drones for situational awareness and forward observation being effective against a enemy with modern capabilities. Hell, the media and information warfare is evolving faster than ever. We all thought the next war would involve lots of cyber attacks, but instead we got hotlines you can call to see if the enemy has killed your son. Then there is the impact that India and China are having just by sitting there and not doing anything one way or the other. I despise what is happening, but in a detached way it is terribly interesting. - Bret | |||
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| Fighting the good fight |
I was just having that discussion this morning. Ukrainian artillery has been making widespread use of forward observation drones in this conflict. Rather than relying on human forward observers phoning in adjustments, artillery units themselves are able to get real-time birds-eye views of the enemy's current position and movements along with their rounds' impacts, in order to more accurately adjust fire and more effectively engage mobile enemy forces. I think this is going to quicken the widespread utilization of individual observation drones at the small unit level (as opposed to large recon drones loitering overhead, or attack drones making airstrikes), as well as result in a new emphasis on developing and fielding man-portable anti-drone technology. | |||
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| Raptorman |
If Russia wants win bad enough, they can beat them, then they get to rule over ruin. Then they will be fighting a never ending insurgency of destroyed pipelines. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| Lawyers, Guns and Money  |
Yep. Fascinating. In the era of the internet, arm-chair-quartebacking can be fun! "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
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| Member |
Unfortunately, in this current-age of media-entertainment, where we're inundated with police/legal procedurals, medical ethics dramas and political battle ground series', the narrative is to find a moralistic high-ground and highlight the outrage. I'm not attempting to down-play 'war crimes', however there is a pre-occupation towards finding some legal standing, while overlooking the fact that, there's still a war going on, and none of these accusations are going to amount to much until peace is secured. As one military commenter noted, there's a lot of talk about sanctions and charges but, not a lot of talk about finding peace.
This is what happens when the public at-large, hasn't ever served in the military, let alone know of anyone who has. Its fascinating because its an area that most people aren't familiar with, and the decisions are for keeps, lives are lost and technology is at the forefront just as much as human will.
This is nothing new, the scales of advantage rock back n'forth as technology evolves. The Yom Kippur war in '73 was the advent of anti-tank missile systems, where a lone infantryman, from a stand-off range, could eliminate a tank. Prior to, that infantryman had to get very close to a tank in order to disable it; today's weapons, you can not only mission kill it, but destroy it.
Drones have been used for quite a long time. In '91 Desert Storm, US battleships were using Pioneer drones launched off the stern to do spotting for the big 16" guns ashore, the opening air phase of Desert Storm, nearly all USAF & USN drones used for air training, were used instead to expose Iraqi SAM sites. I get what you're saying, drone usage and capabilities are now down to the squad level, and the ability to communicate and bring fires is scary...and impressive. | |||
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Member |
Last night I listened to this podcast interview by Megyn Kelly of Gary Kasparov (the Russian Chess Grand Master), who clearly is well informed and willing to address Putin's rise to power, intentions, and actions to the degree he's apparently on the dictator's hit list. If only we had leaders with the intellect and knowledge of Mr. Kasparov in office or (at a minimum) listened to them. Putin's mindset is power and attempting to deal with him from anything other than a position of power is futile. Not a long interview, but incredibly informative: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/...6305?i=1000556454236 "I'm not fluent in the language of violence, but I know enough to get around in places where it's spoken." | |||
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| Member |
The 'Pivot to the Pacific' was 10 years ago, all uniformed services know who the big-threat is yet, somehow, the Army didn't think it was a good idea to evolve their principal man-portable anti-air weapon(?) I get it, updates continue to make the Stinger relevant however, the opening phases of any war, you tend to expend your stocks, resupply is surged in, however there's nothing behind it. Supplying Ukraine with current stocks, with nothing available to replace it, strikes me as not so good planning. Too much chasing shiny objects, and over reliance on existing airpower, and not enough focus on the back-end. No easy answer for ramping up Stinger production, Pentagon No. 2 says
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| Lawyers, Guns and Money |
Biden's stupid policies are driving up energy costs and enabling Putin... US Gas Production Set To Fall On Lack Of Pipelines By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com U.S. natural gas production will decline by 5 percent by 2050, and consumption will shed 4 percent if no new interstate pipelines are built, the Energy Information Administration said in its latest Annual Energy Outlook. This, in turn, will lead to higher gas prices, the authority also said, and this will, in turn, lead to higher electricity prices. “The higher natural gas prices that result from capacity constraints primarily affect natural gas consumption in the U.S. electric power sector, which is more price-sensitive than the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors,” the EIA explained. The share of natural gas in power generation is set to decline in the scenario of no new interstate natural gas pipelines but not by much. According to the EIA, in that scenario, the share of gas in 2050 will constitute 31 percent of the total, compared with 34 percent under the agency’s reference scenario. Yet, in absolute terms, the lack of new interstate gas pipelines will reduce gas-fired power generation by 11 percent in 2050 compared to the reference scenario. At the same time, any bans on new interstate pipelines—a prerogative of the federal government—will not lead to any significant carbon dioxide emission declines. “We project that restricting interstate U.S. natural gas pipeline capacity would only slightly lower energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States relative to the Reference case,” the EIA wrote. “Total CO2 from all fuel sources in 2050 are 4% lower in the No Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Builds case than in the Reference case.” One more thing that the EIA did not include in its report, but energy expert David Backmon raised as an issue this week in a podcast, is the link between interstate gas pipeline capacity and increased U.S. LNG exports to Europe, per President Biden’s commitment to Brussels to make up for a solid portion of Russian gas. Without more pipelines, Blackmon argued, U.S. LNG producers would find it difficult to boost exports sufficiently. https://www.zerohedge.com/comm...-fall-lack-pipelines "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
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| Gracie Allen is my personal savior! |
^^^ Wait until the Euros start pressing Biden to increase North American pipeline capacity. The irony will be brutal. | |||
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Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
I remember hearing about a Fox News Foreign correspondent being injured in Ukraine a few weeks ago. I hadn't realized it was Benjamin Hall. I haven't watched Fox News since 2020, but I remember Benjamin Hall well. He got pretty messed up in the attack. Looks like he is lucky to have survived. *********************** Fox News' Benjamin Hall makes public severe injuries in deadly attack while reporting in Ukraine Attack occurred March 14 near the Ukraine capital city of Kyiv Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall, injured in a deadly attack last month in Ukraine while reporting on the Russia invasion, on Thursday evening made a public statement about his severe injuries including those on both of his legs. "To sum it up, I’ve lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other," he tweeted. "One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all, I feel pretty damn lucky to be here – and it is the people who got me here who are amazing!" Hall colleagues Pierre Zakrzewski, a Fox News cameraman, and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshinova were killed in the March 14 attack near the Ukraine capital city of Kyiv. Hall, a State Department correspondent for the cable news network, was rescued after the attack and flown to a hospital in Germany, then transferred to a premier military medical facility in Texas where he has undergone multiple surgeries, Fox News reports. "I need to pay tribute to my colleagues Pierre and Sasha who didn't make it that day," Hall also wrote in the tweet. "Pierre and I traveled the world together, working was his joy and his joy was infectious. RIP." https://justthenews.com/world/...tack-while-reporting ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| Raptorman |
The Russians have been targeting journalists to try to control the flow of information. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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