yarmaluk

Time to take a vacation JK?

Everyone said war with Russia was inevitable during the Cold War too. I spent 10 years as an Army officer during the 70s-80s. We pretty much expected that we'd never grow old.
Yet I just turned 65 and retired. War with Russia never happened, despite numerous proxy wars and some (many?) close calls.
This is in no way to minimize Ukraine's plight at the moment, but I think the inevitability and doom predictions are not a new thing. 
I'm not in any way an expert, (give me a target list and I can blow it up, but grand strategy, international relations is above my pay grade) but I believe the aid being provided coupled with the sanctions Russia is coming under will do the job, without increasing the possibility of US/NATO forces coming into direct conflict with Russian forces. That's the thing that during the Cold War, both sides went to lengths to avoid. 
Dave

I am hoping that this is something that comes out of this war.  Corruption happens when finances are not transparent and banking regulations are weak.  EU membership for Ukraine has not been held up by any fear of Russia, but by corruption in Ukraine.  The unity Ukrainians have found and the willingness to sacrifice for their nation needs to be harnessed post conflict.  It should become a national effort and a national security concern to resolve this regardless of EU membership or not.  And this goes not only for Ukraine but for all.  Deutsche Bank has a long history of managing Russian funny money that has to stop.  There are states in the US becoming versions of the Cayman Islands.  That has to stop.  London and US real estate as havens for oligarch money - has to stop.  Want to make it difficult for authoritarian leaders - stop the cash flow that enables them or at a minimum make it visible.  This is supposedly the information age.

Yes. Reminds me of a very good movie. The Death of Stalin a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci.
The scene where Beria met his fate. BÄM and hes gone.

Sky news team ambushed. 
https://news.sky.com/story/sky-news-teams-harrowing-account-of-their-violent-ambush-in-ukraine-this-week-12557585

Is that defcon level website even a credible source? Shamanic rituals - really?

Didn't quarter of Americans think that 9/11 was an inside job?
Seems to be it's a stable percentage of that kind of people.

I'm wondering in similar fashion how safe Lukashenko is with some of his army being deployed to Ukraine and no Russian troops available to bail him out again if the population decide they'd rather see the back of him.
 
( "if the population decide they'd rather see the back of him." - of course, that would never happen without the "West" organising a coup and Soros/Bill Gates/other boogeyman financing it. Because no population ever just decided they were fed up with a corrupt leader by themselves... )

Precisely. It's cheer bluff. And one of Putin's biggest mistakes ever. This will even convince his buddies that he lost it. It also infuriated his opponents, which is even more of a mistake. 

Yes, but that rogue still has nuclear weapons. The real question is not whether he is a rogue, but whether he is rational.
If he is, he will be trying to cut his losses at this point and find a way to end the war with some kind of symbolic victory or achievement.
NATO countries would do well to leave him a way out instead of going for total victory and humiliation.

Is there anything that can't be blamed on covid these days
I don't think it has anything to do with the economy. If Putin wanted prosperity, he could have been friendly with his neighbours, encouraged trade and opened his gas pipeline.. apparently that was not what he wanted.
This seems more like the fulfilment of an old dream by an old man. He spent so many years seizing and consolidating power.. now in his last years, he wants to change the world.

I am ashamed of the actions of my government, I hoped to the last that there would be no war and this is just a bluff. Now anti-war rallies are taking place all over Russia, no one supports this war, there are a bunch of idiots who support it, but I assure you that the majority of the population is AGAINST THIS WAR. 
I honestly empathize with Ukrainians, but in no case will I rejoice at the death of our Russian soldiers! Young guys who could live a long life and do so much good in life, and not die for the sake of crazy ideas. 
 


 

 

 


 

"We say WimO but John says Ono. Ono, Ono, I don't know why he says, Ono, we say WimO".