acrashb

Fox News' take is quite different, but here's CNN's take: By passing Ukraine aid, the accidental speaker became an unlikely Churchill | CNN Politics

That's partly why I posted it. The "right" isn't a monolith any more than the "left" is. Shapiro in particular, while generally aligned with the "right", thinks independently. In any event, the fact that, as you say, someone influential on that side of the line is making supportive statements - backed up with obvious logic and some obvious emotion (never bring facts to a feelings fight)- is significant, and that's the main reason I posted. Very hopeful that a meaningful Ukraine (and others) bill is passed, and I see Shapiro's support as indicative that it will. There is clearly bipartisan support, and that's what's needed to get this through. I would say "tripartisan", but is it just as obvious that a faction, including MGT and similar, will not be onboard.

Because there is so much talk about US support and the bills being presented to Congress:

More concrete indications that the West is waking up:

Since we're been talking about the efficacy of sanctions, here is an eye-watering example of evasion. Sanctions have an effect, and they need to be enforced. Looks like some people are going to jail. https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/12/05/finnish-firms-smuggling-drones-russia/

Another interesting drone in development. This one can intercept aircraft, other drones, can be one-shot or re-usable, does VTOL and is fast. Yikes.

Not me. I see at relatively close range (I live in the country and pay attention) the omnishambles that is the Canadian Armed Forces - lots of good intentions and not enough stuff. Partly it's money (a hard limiting factor) and partly it's competence, which can be improved with will (and time, and money). It's a travesty, and Canada has been free-riding on the US taxpayer for years, with respect to defense. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. In a practical sense, it erodes a team when some members are feigning sprained ankles while others move the ball down the field. If NATO is for mutual defence - and it is - then Canada (and others) are lagging in 'mutual'.

Which is why the world has gotten away with free-riding for so long. It isn't fair, and it weakens the alliance. If the US wants to continue to spend ~4.5% of GDP and in so doing get the side benefits, great, as long as countries like Canada step up and meet their 2% commitment (and ultimately do something smart with the money). Motives are one thing, results another. Ideally they align, but if they don't and the results are okay, well let's carry on. Our system is designed so that results are generally good even when motives are suspect - for example, many of the politicians I've known had very poor motives, and yet produced results because that's how they got re-elected. Having said that, I acknowledge that poor motives have a corrosive effect, given time. Not everything DT produced was evil, even when the methods were disturbing. Check the chart, steady growth in NATO spending as a percentage of GDP.

So some war porn is instructive. Again, slaughterbots. Also, the drone operator has the personality of a cat playing with its food. Good or bad is an exercise for the reader - and here's a really good thought experiment: when this is done autonomously, should the AI play with its food as well for purposes of Schrecklichkeit? He uses bull-in-a-china-shop tactics to get results, sometimes it works (often not). On NATO, he was saying the obvious: most of the free world, including my country, free rides on the US taxpayer. I think his various threats were a way to scare other states into stepping up (at least I hope so). Result: NATO defense spending as a share of GDP 2023 | Statista Looks like the bluster did have the desired (or a desirable) effect. Hard to be sure, but the chart is persuasive, as he was inaugurated in Jan 2017.

Budanov's wife poisoned: Ukraine military intelligence chief’s wife has been poisoned, reports say (foxnews.com) Whoever arranged this, and the entire chain of command that executed it, now has a target on their foreheads.

With multi-partisan support. Only Elizabeth May abstained.

1) if you're referring to The Donald, unless the Democrats field a viable candidate pretty soon, The Donald will be the 47th President of the United States. So whatever preparations you deem necessary, I'd start them now... 2) It truly is. Sweeping statements like "the Plague of Justinian hastened the end of the Roman Empire" sweep enormous suffering to the side. In the immortal words of Heinlein, talking about ordinary people, "Perhaps their lives have no cosmic significance, but they have feelings. They can hurt." 3) I had not intended to take advancement in social and physical technologies for granted - "past performance is no guarantee of future results" - these advancements and the relatively recent radical upturn in their pace are not an accident. I just wanted to take some wind out of the doomsayer's sails, because the only sure way to lose is to give up - it is the sufficient condition. Anyway, Human Progress is a sure antidote to the drumbeat of negativity from legacy media. Regarding the future, given that we appear to be the only sentient life in at least the Milky Way, a) we may be about to be challenged by The Great Filter and b) it is important both to us (for obvious reasons) and everything else (because sentience gives meaning to the universe) that we overcome it. One of the clear steps is avoiding nuclear escalation due to the Russo-Ukraine war (see how cunningly I brought this back on-topic?), and as the_capt often says, this isn't a given, even in peacetime ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls ).

You may then enjoy this article from Human Progress: How Dignity-First Development Can Spread Liberal Democracy Better - Human Progress And for all of the numerous doomsayers here, with the exception of human freedom (which has taken a hit in the last decade or so, as measured by Freedom House), everything gets better all the time. Just open your eyes to evidence vs. media trying to terrify you. I suggest skimming the stats found in Human Progress. While one should not expect results when bringing facts to a feelings fight - I think the people here can do better than that.

More signs of Russian stress: "...Russia has likely moved strategic air defence systems from ... Kalingrad, to backfil recent losses..."

Looks like the BTR backs into a ditch and gets stuck. Then it gets droned. So Russia continues to put crappy drivers in its crappy vehicles. I speak no Ukrainian, but I do understand "motha****a"