keas66

Dear me - all this squabbling between members from different European Counties really highlights the potentially fragmented nature of the European Structure . You guys sound like you really are only a few steps away from splitting asunder if push came to shove . So much for European Unity ? . I hope at the Political level at least there is a little more consensus .

Guys - look you probably have plenty of examples of bad things in past literature - Its the nature of things . I enjoy Literature and Non fiction from times when people of color were clearly being treated as less than human in literature of the times . Do I think such Books need to be purged from our Libraries ? Well - personally no . And I'll happily keep what Russian Literature I have as well - safe on my bookshelves . When you start targeting the Literature /Books of a Culture for reasons of the moment - you are heading down a troublesome path that I have no interest in going down .

Yeah - so as much as I support Ukraine's fight against the Russian invaders - I don't personally see a need to target all Russian Arts/Science/People as Villains incarnate . You'll just have to accept that a lot of people are not going to see the need to swallow this particular thread of Ukrainian thinking . Its a little too extreme - I'd advise you to dial it back a bit .

Well ... I'd kind of disagree that that is an overriding theme in any Russian Novels I have personally read ... but I can imagine you are not really interested in conflicting opinions on this subject so I'll leave you to your own (de)illusions .

Pretty frequently in fact . My section of Russian Literature in my library is larger than the French section I would think ...and I do re-read them fairly frequently . Gogol being a favorite . You need to tone it back a little .

I be more concerned if the Chinese were in fact aware of what filters NORAD had in place - knowing such details would allow them to try such a program out in the first place .

Well its now February 12th and no sign of this patch on the steam version .

You seem to be basing all of your arguments on one IMF report that all is rosy with the Russian Economy ? https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-imf-forecasts/

Not sure how much weight/attention I would pay to any articles penned by Brandon J Weichert ? Here is another goodie from him : https://amgreatness.com/2023/01/13/russia-not-yet-defeated/ He wants Ukraine to surrender Crimea and the Donbas to Russia - ie make a deal / surrender .

Whispers from another forum : “Members of the military community allege it wasn't the vehicle that was the problem, but planning. They say that the maintainers weren't supplied with spares, and apparently the civilian contractors tasked with training the maintainers weren't brought in. Apparently, the vehicles had been scheduled to undergo maintenance before the exercise but for some reason that never happened”

What century are you living in ?

With regards the return of Bout - one assumes he will likely be very restricted in his activities now if he felt like resuming his old profession and probably feel like he needs to remain in Russia permanently . I mean if he steps outside Russia now .... I for one would have a hellfire or similar waiting for him above .

The Allies were executing German prisoners in WW2 at various times . Plenty of examples in the literature/histories of that conflict . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenogne_massacre https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-horror-of-d-day-a-new-openness-to-discussing-allied-war-crimes-in-wwii-a-692037.html https://www.jstor.org/stable/26014041 I won't even raise the issue of what happened to Germans at the hands of the Russians . Needless to say they both behaved barbarically to each other . So I'm not sure why every one is getting so sensitive about a bunch of Russians getting handed out the same treatment they themselves no doubt would have indulged in given the chance . Its a war and humans really have not evolved into a more sensitive caring bunch of individuals in the last 70 years just because society itself has more visibility into what is going on at the front lines by virtue of technology .

So I'm starting to get the impression that the Ukrainians are advancing and not hanging back in the Kherson area - Attempting to put further pressure on the Russians where they can without getting sucked into a trap one hopes . Do we expect a modern day version of the retreat at Borisov or have the Russians already gotten out everything they want to keep before making the announcement yesterday to retreat . ?

I mean I guess they have no choice ( the Russians that is ) except to prepare such lines - but I would expect the Ukrainians if they did decide to push on would be coming southwards out of the Zaporizhzhia area making all these defensive lines defunct ?

I've yet to see any real explanation for why the Wagner forces are pushing so hard in this sector apart from the idea of being able to announce some sort of success when they eventually are forced to withdraw . I mean this amount of effort in such a concentrated area while they are being pushed back in the North and South - It seems like the strategy of a complete imbecile . What do they gain by trying to push for Bakhmut ??

PsyOps infiltrating into MSM ? I mean why else would one publish this .

How many of these do they even have left ?

Actually on the whole question of Russian Military prowess and their abilities to fight a modern war - and this may be in a little bad taste considering the real war being waged right now - but I have a wealth of Gaming material representing mid eighties hypothetical conflicts with the Soviet forces - actually it is quite an enormous pile - including Combat Mission Cold War . I look at this pile of materiel now and wonder just how accurate it is - what sort of assumptions it is all based on . I'm hoping they are all still reasonable simulations and the Russians of the 80's were indeed a scary military power that could drive for the Fulda Gap .

I saw some comments to the effect that the oxygen supply system had failed and both crew members were unconscious ...but who knows

Just not sure that Iran acquiring Nukes from Russia could be described as a long term problem . I do not think this would be allowed to happen .

I'm not sure the apparently Russian Loving Israelis would stomach that .

I'm becoming more curious about what exactly is holding back various actors in the region from reaching out and "touching" the Iranians .

The fact that he is doing this in public - is the problem .. .That's the major point as far as I am concerned . I have no problem with him or his companies discussion on compensation with the United States or Ukrainian Governments - But the fact that he raises these issues in Public - That's the problem - If you think this is a minor thing ...then I guess we will just have to agree to disagree .

I would respectfully disagree - The fact that Starlink appears to be a vital communications link for front line Ukrainian forces would seem to make this quite important . If the provider of said services is able to turn these services on and off at a whim based on how his latest set of insane peace tweets have been treated - then I think we have a problem with him . Either the Ukrainians need to reduce their dependencies on the starlink network - or the US needs to take a stronger line with Musk and get him back under control . If HIMARS missile manufacturer started making tweets about Peace Plans and asking the DoD to pay more for the supplied missiles I expect there would be an uproar .