Escalating against a more powerful foe is usually a bad idea.
Ukrainians are finding this out now. There’s no denying that Ukraine’s strikes on Russia oil infrastructure, especially refineries have been effective, or that its strikes against Russian shipping had an effect but that campaign led to Russia changing its strategy as well.
It has basically turned Ukraine into a landlocked country with massive strikes against Ukrainian ports. This is as the harvest needs to be sold.
A systematic attack on gas and diesel distribution in the country, by taking out gas stations, has made logistics within the country extremely difficult. It’s not just that Ukraine is landlocked, it’s that once you get into the country by land, it’s hard to move at all.
This has always been the problem Ukraine faces: Russia is just more powerful. Putin was very restrained for most of the war, not taking out dual use infrastructure, letting power stay on, etc, etc… This is the sort of stuff that the US usually takes out first, as it did in both Iraq wars. Russia didn’t.
But while Putin has been remarkably humane for a wartime leader, there is an implicit quid-pro-quo here: we leave certain things alone and you return the favor. Ukraine, knowing it was slowly losing by accepting that status quo has broken it multiple times and each time Putin’s release of constraints on the Russian military has meant that Ukraine was hurt worse than Russia.
It’s instructive to notice that in the Iranian war the US has actually been fairly restrained compared to its normal operations, for the simple reason that while Iran can’t hit the US homeland, it can hit US allies infrastructure. So Trump’s latest promise to turn off all the lights in Tehran came to nought, as have the past threats, because Iran can turn off the lights and water in the Middle East, and more importantly, smash oil production and refining in ways that would take a decade to repair, even as US petroleum reserves keep dropping.
John Arnold put together a good timeline:
March 23: Postponed announced attacks on Iran’s power grid, citing “very good and productive” negotiations March 26: Extended deadline by another 10 days; negotiations were “going very well.”
April 7: Two week ceasefire to give time to conclude a proposed 10-point plan April 21: Extended ceasefire indefinitely after mediators requested more time May 18: Held off a major strike because “serious negotiations” were underway
June 11: Canceled strikes hours after threatening to hit Iran “very hard,” claiming a negotiating breakthrough
June 17: Signed an interim ceasefire agreement ending hostilities and beginning a 60-day period to negotiate a final agreement
July 27: Paused bombing campaign to give diplomacy another chance
August 1: Canceled planned attack after claiming that Iran had agreed on parameters of a deal
Iran says there’s not only no deal, but they aren’t even talking.
So deterrence has, to some extent, worked in the Middle East, but it hasn’t worked in Ukraine.
Zelensky is now offering Russia an “air campaign” cease fire: they’ll stop hitting Russia’s oil infrastructure and ports in exchange for the same.
Too late is my guess. “Now that this strategy is hurting us more than you, let’s stop” isn’t likely to be all that convincing to Russia.
Ukrainians are resisting conscription massively, the Russian army’s advance is slow, but it continues to advance, and Ukraine’s almost out of interceptors, since they’re going to the Middle East and Israel. A promise to let Ukraine make its own patriot missiles is unlikely to work: if they build them in Ukraine, they can be hit. This isn’t like drone manufacture, you can’t farm it out to thousands of dispersed households: it’s need a real factory, and the Russians will find that factory and hit it. Oh, and Ukraine’s post-war population is likely to be ten million less than the pre-war population, with women massively outnumbering men.
Ukraine needs a comprehensive peace deal. Much like America in the Middle East, this is a war it cannot win and which hurts it more than it hurts Russia. When you can’t win a war, you make concessions and go to peace. Denial of reality is not a war plan, it’s a way of marching to doom. At some point the Ukrainian army will collapse, and the conditions that Russia imposes in an unconditional surrender scenario are a lot worse than those they’ll get, even now, in a negotiated peace.
The same is true in the Middle East. Yes, Iran can’t conquer America, but what happens when diesel and gasoline and fertilizer and plastic and medicine shortages all hit the US mainland? The deal America gets in that situation is worse than the deal it gets if it makes peace now.
When you’ve lost a war, you’ve lost the war. Making your opponent prove it across the board will never lead to a better outcome.
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Feral Finster
Since Ukraine has no economy other than de facto unlimited western handouts and produces nothing other than warm live bodies to be press ganged onto the killing floor, who cares?
If Ukraine is truly out of air defenses, it is a true testament to Russian dithering and indecision that Russian aircraft are not running riot over Ukraine, destroying every transportation and infrastructure in the country.
spud
the civil war was one of the first of what’s called modern wars. it was a war against the idiotologies of free markets, and free trade, and all the goodies that accrue to a few, and poverty and slavery to the rest.
when you opponent is driven by those idiotologies, they fight to the death. the south blew it by going to gettysburg, i am sure if lee had it do do over, he would not. but davis egged him on to do ever more stupid stuff. he was driven by idiotologies, and lincoln finally got his generals and sidelined the wall street bootlickers.
and carved the south into small pieces. with massive damage to every corner of the confederacy. basically flattened the south, yet the idiotology still survives and has made a comeback 33 years ago.
so will the nazi’s running the ukraine act in a normal fashion and give up a lost cause, or will the russina have to do another flag raising over berlin? my guess is another flag raising.
the slow grind was necessary in the first few years, but by year three, it was obvious who was going to win, and the gloves needed to be removed in a more speedier fashion. but idiotology still ruled the day in the ukraine, and it still is today.
the nazi’s will just head to europe and the americas after the final carnage, just like they did before.
hand wringing is viewed by idiotologies as weakness.
the russian leadership should have known better, Chechnya and as feral finster has said, georgia in 2008.
bruce wilder
Russia is more powerful militarily than Ukraine, but not all-powerful.
War is always an exercise in persuasion. Who does Russia have to persuade? And, of what does Russia have to persuade them?
In contests between nation-states, persuading governing elites and constituent populations — two distinctly different albeit tenuously related tasks — at home as well as in the target and among the target’s allies — can be a tall order. I think Putin seems well-aware of the limits of his power and that the risks of counterproductive consequences for dramatic gestures bound his options severely. He’s had to resort to patiently waiting for things to change, which he has no good means to change by the force under his command.
Ukraine’s use of assassination inside Russia is an example of a provocative tactic that Russia has to be careful about countering. The Wildberry’s gambit is another.
Waiting for Ukraine to collapse from the effects of attrition seems to be Russia’s best option for “winning the war” but it does not guarantee a reliable counterparty at the end on whom to impose terms.
When Ukraine’s military capacity to defend its long front collapses, it is not clear to me what else collapses with it and what options Russia’s limited military and economic capacity will allow it. A helplessly prostrate Ukraine with failing state capacity along the Dneiper and the Bug could be a nightmare scenario for Russia. A dysfunctional rump state may be the best Russia can hope to achieve, but what a mess that could become, one a hostile EU could move to exploit.
In most wars, both sides are framing their argument-by-force with semi-implicit promises of a willingness to revert to mutually beneficial cooperation in peaceful co-existence on some terms. Zelensky has never to my knowledge since Istanbul ever offered any except a maximalist stance.
The Iran War is an even stranger situation. The U.S. has not had a brief of its own for a conflict with Iran for twenty or thirty years at least. The motivation has long been a compound of Sunni rivalry and Israeli madness. The dynamics of that plays out in the deep shadows of international relations, obscured and concealed lest debate or democratic scrutiny breaks out in the U.S. or Europe.
Feral Finster
Keep in mind that the only thing Russia by destroying Ukraine is doing is convincing the West that Russia will never attack them. It’s the equivalent of trying to scare one’s sociopath neighbor by kicking a dog that nobody cares about and nobody likes very much.
Even if Russia were to sign a peace treaty today, the british and french and germans and poles would keep the war going and.keep trying to wheedle the Americans into fighting for them.
Like & Subscribe
… the Russian army’s advance is slow, but it continues to advance, …
According to who? At the current rate of advancement, Russia will be in Kiev maybe by the next century.
Putin’s experiment is a massive failure. You can never go back. Russia is a failed state. It can never be great again IF it was ever great. It can’t be the Soviet Union again and it can’t be Tsarist Russia again. Russia is now a much easier target for China to ultimately sweep in and mop up, thanks to Putin and his KGB goons.
vmsmith
“This has always been the problem Ukraine faces: Russia is just more powerful.”
The Soviet Union was more powerful than Afghanistan, too. Where did that get them?
People have been predicting Ukraine’s demise for almost 4 1/2 years now, largely on the basis that Russia is bigger, has more people, etc. Almost everyone fails to recognize that Ukraine has many, many more intangible and qualitative factors on its side. And because of that, it’s still way too early to call this game.
And my own opinion is not that Putin has been restrained . . . he’s been stupid. Not as in low IQ; rather, as in classic dictator folly. I don’t think he has much of a clue as to what’s really going on in the various arenas. If I were to bet on it, I’d bet that Putin is gone well before Ukraine comes close to being defeated.
Feral Finster
@Bruce Wilder:
1. “War is always an exercise in persuasion. Who does Russia have to persuade? And, of what does Russia have to persuade them?”
Why should the Ukrainian leadership be persuaded? This war is the best thing ever to happen to them and they hope it never ends.
In January, 2022, Zelenskii was the increasingly authoritarian ruler of a corrupt, backward, Nazi-infested shithole. Now he’s The Beacon Of Democracy, a country so democratic it no longer need bother with tiresome freedom of speech, association ore religion, boring elections, term limits or terms of office.
Zelenskii swans about from gala to foreign capital to foreign parliament, free as a bird and feted everywhere, collecting fat stacks. Sure, it sucks for the dumb farmboys who are press ganged into the army, but why should he care?
2. “The Iran War is an even stranger situation. The U.S. has not had a brief of its own for a conflict with Iran for twenty or thirty years at least. The motivation has long been a compound of Sunni rivalry and Israeli madness.”
Israel knows that its window of opportunity is closing. Israel has The Files, but Trump will not be president forever, and Americna public opinion is not as kneejerk as it was a few years ago.
They are not mad at all, just cynical and evil.
spud
bruce wilder:
bush one was correct. he foretold this and was ridiculed. take ukraine right up to the borders of poland, slovakia and Hungary, its their only option.
then lets see if poland and others, want to turn their own countries over to the naz’s to keep this up.
the mess bill clinton made of the Balkans, still resonates today, and is intensifying. once if ever serbia gets back what was theirs, and gives ultimatums to either toe the line, or get out, things might settle down a bit.
its right there in the open for the russian leadership to see. if millions of ukrainians want to be under nazi’s, let them flee to the E.U.. i am sure they will be welcomed with open arms, not really.
elkern
Interesting contrast between the two wars:
– in the Ukraine war, the people who stand to gain the most – Western Financial Corps (Wall Street & The City of London) – sit far from the conflict, and are [ostensibly] not directly involved. This might be fairly common in the history of modern war (and possibly not that rare in ancient conflicts?).
– in the Iran war, the people who stand to lose the most – poor people in South and Southeast Asia – sit far from the front lines, and are not directly involved at all. Continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz will (eventually) cause severe inflation in the USA, but people in the “Indo-Pac region”(*) will see food riots long before that. This might be the first time in history when the people most hurt by a conflict are those far away (and not involved). (Anybody here got examples of older cases of this?)
At least Zelensky’s attempt to merge the two wars seems to have failed (so far)…
(*) – I still hate the term “Indo-Pac”; IMO it’s a sloppy US term for “all those countries on the far side of the planet that don’t matter except as pawns to screw with China”
Feral Finster
@vmsmith
Here we go again. The Ukrainianshave resortedto simply kidnapping men off the streets and throwing them into the army, so spare us the human spirit bullshit. Happened to humans i know. If Ukrainians were so eager to fight, such methods would not be used.
If Ukraine has anything in its advantage, it is that its leadership is cynical and utterly indifferent to the suffering it causes combined with blanket unlimited and unconditional western support.
I’ve paid off everything there from the fire department to the Cabinet of Ministers.
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… combined with blanket unlimited and unconditional western support.
Hogwash! Granted, there is SOME western support, but it’s hardly as you describe.
Russia has its own serious issues with recruitment. Why else are they using North Korean soldiers? It’s no secret Russia has a long and sordid history of treating its soldiers like garbage. Not a winning strategy.
vmsmith
@Feral Finster
The one and only thing the Russians are really good at is cognitive warfare.
Exhibit A: “The Ukrainians have resorted to simply kidnapping men off the streets and throwing them into the army . . . “
Feral Finster
@vmsmith –
Since I personally know people who were so kidnapped? Not to mention the videos of such events are common on Ukrainian Telegram.
@L&S: Russia hasn’t resorted to a mobilization.
cc
re vmsmith’s “Exhibit A”, there have been tons of reports and videos of Ukrainian men being violently dragged off the streets over the years.
Ex. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ukraine+draft+street
YouTube has so many clips, even from the likes of “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty” and BBC. How is that Russian cognitive warfare?
Here’s a BBC article:
“Conscription squads send Ukrainian men into hiding”
17 June 2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz994d6vqe5o
Here’s a PBS video:
“Lacking manpower, Ukraine resorts to harsh means to force draft dodgers into combat”
Nov 27, 2024
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/lacking-manpower-ukraine-resorts-to-harsh-means-to-force-draft-dodgers-into-combat
The West is using Ukrainians as cannon fodder to pit Slavs against Slavs. Putin and Russia seem to understand this and hence have been very restrained as Ian pointed out. Most of the world, the Global Majority, understands this. But here in the West we get so much constant propaganda and indoctrination that the heavily indoctrinated refuse to recognize reality even when it’s so well-documented and video-recorded, even by Western media.
mago
Zelensky is a cocaine psycho who veers from preening grandiosity to paranoid fear of being taken out if he doesn’t pander to and mollify the neo Nazis, plus he’s sucking up to western dickheads, er, elites. All those top players are short sighted self serving assholes, which is about the only known fact on the ground.
As regards the Iran vs UsIsrael debacle, the meatheads in charge of the zio faction are lost in La La Land in a house of mirrors screaming and screeching about victory while ignoring their losses. They’re too far gone to care about the world’s suffering as long as they’ve got their supply, just like Zelensky with his powder.
The short sighted stupidity and ignorance is staggering. Too bad so many are suffering from the idiocy of the few.
(Waiting for ML to weigh in on the discussion.)
Glau
It’s always weird to me that when forced to chose between anti-western and anti-imperialist positions, many commentators chose imperialism. Russia invaded to conquer territory and hasn’t backed off on that in the slightest, while Ukraine’s motives have pretty clearly been ‘survive’.
As a side note, the use of ‘nazi’ to describe a state with an elected Jewish president makes it get clear that the poster is Russian- nowhere else in the world uses ‘nazi’ in the sense of ‘anti-soviet’ rather than ‘anti-jew’. Much like the idea that Russia is fighting NATO or the US or ‘the West’. Nah dudes- it’s just Ukraine that you are fighting. That’s it. It’s not the US that Russia needs to negotiate with to end the war.
Mark Level
As usual, our host provides a thorough and well-researched overview of 2 war fronts of the West, both flailing and failing, one quickly, the other more glacially, or like sand dropping in an hour glass.
I will respond to a couple of his best points, then to the other commenters.
Paragraphs 1 & 3, first concise, 2nd less so, entirely true.
I agree with Finster to an extent, at first Putin was too restrained. (& by Putin I mean not just him but the government apparatchik around him.)
As to the destruction of Ukrainian gas stations and other infrastructure, too much restraint seen, finally they were forced to go harder by the silly Terrorist attacks, on student dormitories, trains, etc. A central point is Zelensky and those clowns always fought a War of Narrative. Never a war for territory really (the failed 2023 invasion and conquest of Crimea a complete failure, meat-grinder). Can’t they learn anything from their closest allies after the EUropean Elite, the Zionist Genocidal Entity, that “facts on the ground” rule, duping foolish racists like Smith and the usual Troll here accomplishes nothing. Stupid is as stupid does, and you can’t fix stupid. I hadn’t planned on responding to those dunces, but too tempting (like a flag before a bull) so I did short replies to close out.
Anyway, Ian’s last 2 paragraphs before shifting to Iran ring true. Had there even been one sane, rational person with any sanity, they would’ve taken a Minsk 2 or 3 deal, Russia would have taken far less territory than it eventually will, the original asks for the Donbass and 2 other major Oblasts were sane, measured and reasonable. (Maybe too much so, when you are dealing with a Bad Faith party.)
What really doomed Ukraine includes: 1. Mackinder’s loony “Geographical Pivot of History” bullshit. A “Dr. Evil” type overreach, turning itself into a ridiculous self-parody– If I can take THIS territory here, I/We (the whites, the West) can have unlimited power forever!! Only disagreed with Nat Wilson Turner on a couple of things, one was seeming (?) respect for Mackinder. I admire Emperor Norton of San Francisco much more, he at least achieved something (money, respect) for a mental delusion. Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos another example, used her good looks and contacts. 2. The stupid Settler-Colonialist Arrogance of the Euro-Slugs, and the DC Swamp Rats who lusted to conquer the East as easily as they’d (the Spanish first, we do exist, then the Portuguese, the Brits, etc.) conquered the West. An opium phantasy. George Kennan demolished their ludicrous ideas, was ignored. 3. Groupthink– Native Americans are stupid, weak, backward. The Russian Asiatics must be so too. And this decades after Stalingrad and centuries after Napoleon’s armies crushed!! I guess Trump is not the only Megalomaniac, the World’s largest Empire, spanned 12 time zones of 24, fools who lust to take down Goliath. (In terms of space, not population.) 4. Follows from 3, we’re better morally (ain’t) and racially, we need not think rationally, change our tactics, “God is On Our Side,” see the pictures of the Giant Lady Manifest Destiny marching west followed by pioneer wagons c. the early 19th century.
Most here know Mackinder, if not, see here– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History
I will not respond to Ian’s take on Iran and the defeat of the mental midgets that make up the Trump Clown Show. I think it is QED, nothing more needs be added. When will Hegseth be axed? Trump is omnipotent, cannot make errors, sometimes a fall-guy needed. Rummy did that for Bush Jr. after Guantanamo torture.
Now as to other commenters– Finster’s “dithering” generally true, and now in the rear-view mirror, Gilbert Doctorow went too far, the answer was somewhere between “PutinCo” and Doctorow. You can grind slow or just bomb a la Dresden, grinding slower as the old adage goes about Justice, eventually grinds very “fine.”
spud’s analogy with the US Civil War clear and reasonable, and informed my listicle above. The worst people believing they are the best!! How could that not end badly?
As to a 2nd Finster comment, yes, the EUro-Slug leadership wants to feed their people into the Wood-Chipper as soon as the Last Ukrainian is ground up. Will their people comply and throw away their young, then their old? 50 & 60 year-olds being grabbed off the Streets, not trained, given a gun and sent to death? I don’t see that happening. I think “Daddy’s” Oil Crash, aided by Ursula and Kaja the Callous’ hysterical, laughable, “We’ll cap the price of Russian oil at $41 per barrel” means widespread starvation and freezing by Winter. Do those subjects make great warriors? Uhm, no. No Army marches on an empty stomach, the Romans had special staff to find foodstuffs far from home, it worked. The Native Americans were starved until they accepted being forced onto Reservations for the slow, attempted Genocide of their civilizations. (Not fully achieved, where I live in the Southwest, many survived with their culture, less so but a bit so when I was in Minnesota.) Also, Finster, Poland may/does hate Russia, but at this point with all the Nazi cosplay, they hate Ukraine more; some recall their history in the 1930s and 40s, not just those with direct memories.
(Can’t resist popping one Troll balloon– LAS’s use of Zeno’s Paradox to “prove” Ukraine will not soon collapse. Creative at least. Did it work for the 3rd Reich? Did it work for the Jewish Rebellion against the Romans? Why will it suddenly work now? Oh, ‘coz the “orcs”, “faggots” are Subhuman. Got it!!)
Finster shoots those fish in the barrel adequately via his response to Bruce Wilder on the “persuade” fate. The Russians are hated by the West Authoritarians regardless of measured responses, of once having wanted to join the West (deeply foolish), what point in “persuading” Hateful Ignorant Bigots that you are even human? Did Robinson Cruseo’s slave, “Friday” try to project he was a Noble Savage? Not hardly. He should’ve killed Rob while he was sleeping, basic hygiene. This leads me to mention the Euro-Fascists’ delusion. In EVERY war in history where there is a clear Victor and a clear, broken Loser, the Victor Dictates, the Loser submits and suffers. Can we say “Thucydides Trap”, folks? Little Narco Marco suffers from this, it’s better than his brother-in-law’s cocaine, but deadly in the long run. I mean most of the Euros still support the Zionist Genocidal Entity, the Spanish not so, others jumping off that ship too. The Irish. (I’m proud to be of both those cultures, less so of the Spanish, one of the most horrific Empires ever; but a great culture in many other respects.) Are the Zionist Monsters trying to convince anyone to love them? Not at this late in their 3+ Genocides. To repeat myself “Facts on the Ground.” Responding myself to bruce, I see the Russian plan as creating a giant Buffer Zone between the Galitzian lunatics in the West to minimize rear-guard terrorism (somebody mentioned the Chechens, good point), and when Ukraine collapses, letting the Poles take back Lviv and their lands, same for the Moldovans, Bellorusians, Hungarians, and all the others bordering Ukraine. No need to salt the land to damage Ukraine, the ironic result is that what Ms. Lindsey slobbered over, “Weah gonna break Russia into 27 pieces and steal 37 trillion dollahs of assets!” But Ukraine not that rich, plus their crops failing now as harvest season approaches, no oil, little fertilizer, due to Z’s best buddy the Donald.
spud a 2nd good point. elkern pivots and makes an important point, to the War Pigs this is just “collateral damage,” only their Group’s children’s lives have value, not others. Colin Powell tried to maintain a shred of moral posturing with “You broke it, you own it”, his Betters buried that dead idea deep, too deep to be found and resurrected.
Okay, have to close to vn smith– We’ve all seen the videos of men being kidnapped off the street, sometimes their moms and brothers fighting the Recruitment Thugs to keep them safe. We’ve heard about the enormous protests against the press-ganging, this has all been filmed. I saw one photo of a “Recruiter” atop a knocked-down-sideways Porta-Potty with a victim inside. (I’m sure you would claim this is AI.)
You are genocidal scum cheering for the Extermination of . . . Ukraine!! Why aren’t you there, fighting? And your denials are equivalent to the Hitler Apologists of c. 1937– “He doesn’t really HATE the Jews, he will humiliate but not exterminate them.” Shame on you, though you must be incapable of it.
HomelessFriend
lol breaking some brains in the comments with this one. Ukraine strategy has always been escalation for good reason: it’s their only hope of victory. The western coalition can prop up their political system, but don’t care about victory. So for them the only way is up, the U.S. wants those deep strikes because they want to get this war wrapped up. The empire has too many commitments. Divide and conquer, not conquer and conquer. Ukraine wants these deep strikes because they want Russia to reciprocate like they do w/r/t infrastructure. They’re saying look you idiot, the west is providing us material/data so you must strike them otherwise we will never stop. That suits them very well, if Russia can’t cause the Ukrainian army to lose its cohesion before they’re driven to that point.
spud
its obvious the north koreans were there for training purposes for modern warfare. north korea takes their sovereignty very seriously.
Purple Library Guy
Russia has its own serious issues with recruitment, says Like & Subscribe?
Far as I know, the Russians haven’t even instituted a draft. I mean, they sort of had one already before the war, but that was just for sort of “national guard”-like service, and those people have not been sent to the front. So far, they’ve just been filling the ranks of the army by paying big salaries to attract recruits. In the early going, they did recruit a bunch of guys from jail to be shock troops with money + pardons should they survive, but they’ve moved away from those tactics so it doesn’t seem like they need that kind of recruit any more. I’ve no doubt they have SOME problems with recruitment–what army at war doesn’t? But compared to Ukraine, which is reduced to grabbing random people off the street and drafting grandfathers, it’s night and day.
As to the North Koreans . . . whaddya mean, why else would they use them? Why WOULDN’T they? If I was in charge of a country at war and could arrange for some of the dead people to not be my countrymen, and some other country was willing to make such an arrangement, I’d go for it, whether I was having “serious problems” or not.
Purple Library Guy
There is a reason other than being soft, to not destroy your enemy’s logistics too hard. If your army is advancing, into what was enemy territory, those will become YOUR logistics. So clearly, while Russia is winning, the defence is fierce enough that they feel the need to hamper it as much as possible despite that future disadvantage.
Jan Wiklund
On the other hand, US’ favoured war strategy has since WWII always been terror bombing of civilians, says historian Mark Selden, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asia-pacific-journal/article/forgotten-holocaust-us-bombing-strategy-the-destruction-of-japanese-cities-the-american-way-of-war-from-world-war-ii-to-iraq/582A10C8D733F5C62F72CAD4CD89C01E
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Far as I know, the Russians haven’t even instituted a draft.
Hello! That’s for a reason, especially when you consider how many Russian soldiers are being annihilated and even Krasnov has declared Russian casualties are tremendous. A mass mobilization will be the end for Putin and his KGB partners in crimes against humanity.
It’s hilarious watching the apologists provide all manner of absurd reasoning as to why Putin’s SMO has been a complete failure up to and including proclaiming it’s not a failure at all and instead Russia is winning. Even Putin’s apologists now refer to it as a war despite Putin and his courtiers still referring to as an SMO. They cannot find it within themselves, meaning they can’t conjure an ounce of objectivity, to give Ukrainians a lick of credit. It beggars belief that seemingly intelligent people would carry water to this extent.
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Spot on, Glau. I’m hesitant to declare these people must be paid Russian agents because effectively at least, they are precisely that and labeling them misguided is an understatement.
Putin lionizes Russia’s glorious history to include, especially and ironically, Tsarist Russia. Tsarist Russia is particularly noteworthy for its craven imperialism. Hell, ML provided a Harper’s article where one of the Russians bragging about Russia and the war on Ukraine was touting how Russians are imperialist at heart and always will be. He is proud of this fact.
In fact, here is the quote from that article and a link to the article. Straight from the mad horse’s mouth. Russian crazy is a special brand of crazy, that’s for certain. This guy is a nutjob, but hey, at least he’s an honest mad hatter.
https://harpers.org/archive/2024/01/behind-the-new-iron-curtain/
Piotrovsky, who is mild-mannered and cerebral, and who wore his jacket loosely over hunched shoulders, seemed to have become a warrior. “Russia is many people, but one nation,” he asserted. “Russia along the Volga was able to incorporate everyone. Islam is just as much a religion of Russian tradition and identity as is Christian Orthodoxy. In Europe, in America, you speak of nothing but multiculturalism, but your cities are bursting with hate. For us, it didn’t take much to include everyone, because we’re an imperial civilization.” Then he grew more animated. “Look at the Hermitage!” he said, opening his arms to the room around us, widening his eyes. “It’s the encyclopedia of world culture, but it’s written in Russian because it’s our interpretation of world history. It may be arrogant, but that’s what we are.”
Mark Level
Quick responses to a couple of worthies, and a new poster– Mi primo Mago, thanks for awaiting my response, and your take 2 before me was, as usual, excellent. I mean this is obvious as the nose on my face. The Cocaine Comedian has those mood swings you call out, 150%!! I wouldn’t like to be in his tiny shoes, not even for the billions he has stolen and stashed abroad. When you have to balance (a) serving the Banderist Nazi ideology by constantly upping the ante, while running around internationally as you and others note, with your Begging Bowl (I first typed Bull, his Bowl fulla Bull) of course you’re gonna be in a constant state of “High Anxiety.” Pair this with copious coke hits, you’re in line for a stroke or heart attack.
HomelessFriend, mostly good comment as well. As I said, their constant fake Narrative Escalations, grease bombs dropped on WildBerries Centers (their Amazon, but an English name, LAS and Smith should be proud, that’s Imperial indeed) are pinpricks, Serve the Narrative. AND force Russia to escalate. Once for a day and a half, gas crisis in parts of Crimea!! Wowsers!! Not really.
To spud, yes of course. N.K. troops sent as an ally in the Alliance of Resistance v. the Axis of Evil & Lies and Looting. They want to up the skills of their own troops, learn Russian methods. This worked for awhile for US, School of the Assassins, hrrmph, officially “Americas” like the Gulf of America. But being Trump-adjacent Fascist, LAS has no beef with that Nationalist chest-beating. I love the trope, the filthy Russkies are subhuman, they treat the North Koreans as more subhuman!! I doubt it’s true, but I know directly from the year (off and on, longest stay was 6 months) I lived in Central America from Costa Rica up to Mexico that it’s the US that treats its “little brown brothers” like la mierda (shit).
Asia’s winning baby. “The West” is garbage flowing round the drain. This has been a main tenet of Ian’s blog since at least late the last Century. This is something I’ve longed to see since I was in High School in the 1970s, looks like I will live long enough to see it.
To PLG, my comrade in Librarianship and Research, 2 nice takes, thank you for doing the work I’m currently too busy to, rebutting the Trolls’ insane distortions with links, perspective. I cannot waste needed time currently rebutting “The Earth is flat” bullshit.
Jan Wiklund, yes. Projection of Power via terror-bombing. It “seems” viable at first glance, isn’t. See Vietnam, chemical bombing, Cambodia etc. More munitions dropped on Vietnam than by ALL sides in WW 2 yet the Vietnamese drove the Yanqui filth out. Ali Abunimah at the start of the genocide predicted this, predicted the Indigenous people will survive, the Turkic Khazar transplants will be driven out, Daddy Donald contributing his piece by shitting the bed on behalf of delusions.
Viz delusions, LAS, yesterday I heard Brian Berletic and Mercouris of the Duran share Russia’s recruiting 34,000 troops monthly. Not due to “millions” dead (that’s the expendable Ukros) but because they have a front open, as Larry Johnson notes, that’s the size of Washington, D.C. to Flori-duh. Good pay, great training, solid morale, not terrified sheep grabbed off the street or highway.
So glad I got LAS to start reading Harper’s!! He’s not dumb, he just suffers from insane racist delusions. It is weird that given that basically, philosophically, I am an Anarchist, that I am supporting an Empire. But again, choice between a Wannabe 6th Reich (US is 4th, Zionists 5th) and an ancient, multicultural state, I’ll respect the latter.
It’s unlikely I’ll ever travel there, maybe not to Europe or Asia, want to live in my “safe Latin American home,” (to alter a Clash lyric) not as much street violence or murder, mass shootings as USA, nor ICE Imperial Race cops. DEA and other US Imperial Ops have fucked large sections of Mexico up to gangs (pandillas), violence. Not on the level of Honduras, etc. but it’s still brutal. “Man is a bad animal,” Naked apes. During my 6 decades of life, I’ve learned how to “read the room”, being borderline poor from age 19 to 25 gave me good street sense, alongside copious reading giving me historical sense. The liars can suck on their lies, I just walk away with a sigh and a putdown.
Feral Finster
“As a side note, the use of ‘nazi’ to describe a state with an elected Jewish president makes it get clear that the poster is Russian- nowhere else in the world uses ‘nazi’ in the sense of ‘anti-soviet’ rather than ‘anti-jew’. Much like the idea that Russia is fighting NATO or the US or ‘the West’. Nah dudes- it’s just Ukraine that you are fighting. That’s it. It’s not the US that Russia needs to negotiate with to end the war.”
This same state also has military units named after SS formations and has decreed SSmen and Nazi collaborators as national heroes.
Not the first time Nazis and Jews collaborated, BTW, although Zelenskii was elected over vociferous American objections and then immediately brought to heel.
Feral Finster
@ Mark: “As to a 2nd Finster comment, yes, the EUro-Slug leadership wants to feed their people into the Wood-Chipper as soon as the Last Ukrainian is ground up. Will their people comply and throw away their young, then their old? 50 & 60 year-olds being grabbed off the Streets, not trained, given a gun and sent to death? I don’t see that happening. ”
Not only are europeans the most rule-following, authority trusting sheep on the planet, they also live in europe.
Do what Trudeau did to the trucker protesters – anyone who doesn’t show up on draft day, freeze their bank accounts and those of anyone who helps them. Try to live for any length of time in europe with no access to your own money.
They’ll fold.
Hell, elections were flat-out cancelled in Romania and freedom of speech, the press and association basically ended in europe, all to barely a peep of protest. These are *europeans*, biggest wimps on the planet.
vmsmith
@cc, @Mark Level
“We’ve all seen the videos of men being kidnapped off the street . . . ”
I guess y’all don’t understand the nature of “cognitive warfare” and what it really means.
Jorge
Putin’s fundamental problem in this war has been: he does not want to be The Dog That Caught The Car. He needs Ukraine to be so beaten down that Russia’s administrative resources are strong enough to thoroughly dismantle whatever is left. He does not want to win the war only to lose the subsequent peace.
And so, Ukraine has to slowly bleed out until there’s no fight left.
Glau
@feral
Russia would throw me in prison got being queer, same as the Nazis- gathering in public or sharing information on non-traditional relationships had been illegal since 2013. Ukraine has a pride parade, most recently this June.
Ukraine had the Azov units, yes, until they were wiped out. Russia had the Wagner group, the Rusich Group, and the Russian Imperial Legion among others. So some explicitly neo-nazis units on both sides, but Ukraine’s are mostly dead now and Russia’s are not, and the Russians have the larger contingent of neo-nazis.
Finally, and most importantly, Russia started this as a war of aggression, which is the main thing that we hung nazis in Nuremberg for.
They may well win. They are certainly not the less nazi side.
Purple Library Guy
So Like & Subscribe thinks the Russians haven’t instituted a draft BECAUSE they are supposedly suffering amazingly high casualties. In much the same way someone’s arm being broken CAUSES them to NOT go to the doctor.
While vmsmith believes that WESTERN MAINSTREAM MEDIA reports of something, not to mention a commenter’s PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE with somebody the something happened to, are a result of fiendish Russian “cognitive warfare”.
I can’t even.
spud
it appears iran now understands this, maybe. north korea understands this for sure. but russian and china, i am not so sure.
the slavs will be spared somewhat by the oligarchs, even the oligarchs inside those countries might be spared, and as we all know, capitalists will take the worst possible, short term route to ensure the gravy train never ends, and is always expanding. so the oligarchs inside russia and china, will go for it if they ever get the chance. best just to eliminate them and set up a system that keeps them out as long as possible.
the slavs who are spared, will toil in the mines and farms, on near starvation rations. after all, a good capitalist would never expend un-needed capital on throw away’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jL4lGocowA
Gilbert Doctorow: Russia Must Restore Its Deterrence to Survive
Dr. Gilbert Doctorow discusses why Russia must deter NATO to survive.
Dan Kelly
‘the Russians haven’t instituted a draft BECAUSE they are supposedly suffering amazingly high casualties’
They have had very high casualities.
‘Amazingly high’ would need to be more properly defined and even then is open to much interpretation depending on perspective.
Russia won’t institute a draft because drafts are so yesteryear.
Russia pays people to fight its wars just like ‘the west’ does.
It pays both Russian citizens and it will pay any non-Russian who wants to fight for mother Russia the fatherland.
This is on top of Putin et al ordering the conscription of hundreds of thousands of Russians over the past few years.
Here are the available positions as well as an easy sign-up page for those who wish to get started defending mother Russia from outside agitiators and imperialists.
Feel like you’re too old to help?
No worries: Mother Russia recruits warmongers up to age 60.
Are you ready to start?:
https://archive.ph/p8g0G#selection-6193.0-6193.16
https://tass.com/defense/2022765
vmsmith
@Purple Library Guy
“While vmsmith believes that WESTERN MAINSTREAM MEDIA reports of something, not to mention a commenter’s PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE with somebody the something happened to, are a result of fiendish Russian “cognitive warfare”.
Did I say “fiendish”? I don’t think so. That’s what’s known as a straw man argument on your part.
Mainstream media reports? The links cc posted were almost two years old. That counts?
But if you want to rely on cc’s mainstream media coverage, how about these from the same source (BBC):
“I was tricked into fighting for Russia” – https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0n29qx9
“A Kenyan man who says he believed he was travelling to Russia to join a basketball team but was instead coerced into military service. He describes signing a contract in Russian, witnessing death in battle, and fighting in a war he says he never agreed to join.”
Or . . .
“How were so many Africans lured to fight for Russia”
https://www.kenyamoja.com/video/how-were-so-many-africans-lured-fight-russia-bbc-africa-bbc-africa-358665
Or . . .
“Russia reveals exemptions as men flee call-up”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63005406
I think, PLG, that you and others are indulging in major motivated reasoning and confirmation bias.
Oh, and “…not to mention a commenter’s PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE with somebody the something happened to…”
Some stranger on the Internet with a funny name makes a claim you want to believe, and so you believe them? That’s pretty much the very definition of confirmation bias.
Chipper
@Mark Level
Ukraine is already drafting their 50-year-olds. Draft age in Ukraine is 25-60, though men ages 18-60 are required to register. The lower draft age was 27 until 2024.
Busification is a good search term for anyone who wants to see the TCC press gangs in action.
Mark Level
Glau wins the new prize for lying, even above Lie and Suborn.
1st to the odious vmsmith who wants “the last Ukrainian dead”, then Poles, Germans (I don’t care, they mostly suck), Frenchies and UK (yes, kill them all as they did to the Irish) dead . . . Aaron Mate’s new book out, “Their Blood, Our bullets.” An Ollie North quote. I’m preordering a copy soon. I have to tell a funny story about my return to New Orleans after a couple months in Nicaragua, volunteer picking coffee, 1983-4 as a youngster. I never had my life threatened, once when I was sitting in a trench at night (as I am not and never have been a Pacifist, a privileged person’s delusion, I read Malcolm X’s Autobiography with Alex Haley around age 20), a compadre had an itchy trigger finger and fired a shot. We were guarding 75 people in a communal dorm. It was a false alarm. Guy claimed he saw “un mono”, a monkey. I’d picked for weeks, never seen a single monkey, a hallucination.
The only time I was ever threatened was the Border Patrol when I re-entered the US, threatened with a Cavity Search. Because I looked “energetic.” I told the guy I’d had good coffee in the a.m., + “glad to be back in the USA”, I don’t lie often but that was a howler. And lying to cops a survival mechanism for us civilians.
So back in New Orleans I saw a wimpy li’l dude with an “Oliver North, American Hero” black T-Shirt. I was 24 years old at the time, a swarthy (11% non-white, mainly Hispanic) Punk, 6 feet even, not an ounce of fat on my body, broad shoulders. I wore black, a Punk Rocker, black bracelet with spikes, steel-toed boots from when I worked in an oilfield pipeline at age 20 before joining the Merchant Marine out of Morgan City, Louisiana, and Port Arthur, Texas. So I had to say something. That twerp was cheering for the deaths of Nicaraguans and other Lefty Internationalistas I knew and loved. I knew people whose friends and family members were murdered by Contras, or had their crops burnt down since they didn’t want to live as feudal slaves.
I said, “Hey, great shirt, I’m a Nazi too!!” Then I started marching stiff-legged like a Nazi walking beside him (as taught to me by John Cleese on Monty Python), with each leg-kick I shouted “Sieg! “Heil!”, threw a single arm forward in a Nazi salute, left-right, left-right. Rinse and repeat. About 4 steps in, the wannabe War Pig shrunk down into his T-shirt and scuttled away with fear. (Did he think I was sincere? No idea.)
Glau’s lies now: 1. “Russia invaded to gain territory.” A flat lie. Russia invaded as the West had built up 2 Giant Armies in the 404 State, and killed 12,000 Russian-speakers, their own Citizens, in the Donbass, for speaking Russian, “the language of the oppressor” (okay they are over 80% responsible for defeating the 3rd Reich among professional historians, a group to which I used to belong). Every human being has a right to self-defense, you disagree I am certain. (Minor but important exceptions. Per the Nuremburg laws, which I expect you despise, oppressed groups have the right to defend themselves, the oppressors don’t. Israel has “no right to defend itself” under those laws, Occupying Stolen land and killing the Indigenous people.)
Others pointed out your lies about all the Battalions, not just Azov, named for Nazis, schools, streets as well. When the SMO started I saw a Jewish Journalist from PBS interviewing the Nazi mayor of a Ukraine town. They mistakenly pulled the camera back and their was a giant “handsome” (untrue) painting of Bandera on the wall. Please rebut the Wikipedia link, NOT by any means “Pro-Russian”, I asked LAS months ago, never a peep in reply from him. Step up to the plate, tough guy– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera
To repeat my never-answered queries to LAS, do you endorse the Fascism? The Ultra-Nationalism? The Anti-Semitism? (I won’t report you to the ADL, don’t worry, you have anonymity here.) The terrorist assassinations make him really cool? What about his Hitler Youth clothes as a child, inspiring? His crossdressing (which I don’t disapprove of, have friends who do this) “in folkloric Cossack costume.” It is cultural appropriation of course, it’s as absurd as if I ever dressed up as a Black Panther and wore blackface. (I never would, Justin Trudeau photo’ed at 4 different parties in Blackface, gross.) Working for the Fascist German functionaries after losing the War? Explain his James Dean “coolness” quality, please.
Glau’s fake martyrdom– “Russia would throw me in a prison got (sic, for?) being queer.” Did you ever hear about the Russian-hating Law and Justice Party in Poland a decade back creating “Family Friendly Zones,” in which anyone suspected of “being queer” could be legally beaten and even killed without a trial? Do some research. This is derived from Florida laws, anyone publicly demonstrating or opposing ICE or Genocide in Palestine who steps into the street can be run down by a car with complete legal impunity. (Same in Oklahoma. There was one man who was a victim, it never went to trial.)
I don’t defend homophobia here, quite the reverse, and your fellow fascist LAS called me a poseur or liar, falsely claimed I’d said I “knew David Bowie” when I shared that at age 25, Morrisey convinced me to be Gender Queer. (It lasted about 10 months, then I went back to straight.) My ex-girlfriend nicknamed me “The Fruity Werewolf” at one point for my overt androgyny, the noun is since I’m Mediterranean and hairy as an ape from the ass down. There is a certain b.w. on here who said he didn’t feel bad about the murder of Renee Good, a white lesbian mom of 4, as he doesn’t like “lesbians” with “pink hair”, which evidently her wife was. I called that out.
I don’t defend Slavic homophobia, never have and never will, does it offend you that in addition to “Orcs”, Ukrainian troops call Russians “faggots”? I saw a long podcast years ago, Ukro troops being fired on and failing, shouting Faggot!! Faggot!
Do you think you could walk around Ukraine with all those frigging Nazis being openly queer? You’d be tortured and murdered in no time. (Ask Finster, he has actually lived there.) It might be dangerous to be Out, openly, both Russia and Ukraine have soccer Hooligans and queer-haters, no doubt. But you are being grossly hyperbolic, as with your other claims, whole-clothe lie, or nearly so.
And LAS says we must be “paid” Putin puppets. As if any Normie (I’m not super-normie, but about some things, say Cannibalism, Bestiality, Nazi Flexing, yes, I am Normie. It’s fucking repulsive. Do you have Skinhead boyfriends? Lot’s of fisting? I don’t disapprove, a fan of Mapplethorpe’s photos, but I wouldn’t personally go there.) As to LAS, I have no shame about hating Fascists, my dad was pretty close (a Nixon guy and a Trump guy, until Jan. 7.) I don’t need to “take money” to do that. Is he paid? I’ve never said so. He’s not that skilled as a propagandist, he’s convinced Nobody here that Bandera is cool, or Susan Collins was epic for smashing Roe v. Wade.
The Azov Units “were wiped out”? Provide links. They sit behind the cannon fodder non-Nazi units and fire on “their troops” who retreat for their lives. Do you like Andriy Biletsky, a great “here” in Ukraine? See here– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriy_Biletsky
He’d kill any gay man or woman without a moment’s hesitation– the manliest Bear, the most subtle Lesbian, see the Movie Carol, with Cate Blanchett initiating Rooney Mara into lipstick lesbianism. It’s pretty good, though I far prefer his film Velvet Goldmine with the actors standing in for a reported Iggy Pop-Bowie tryst. Ewen MacGregor swinging his big cock around, a much more Dionysian take on being Queer. The 70s a cooler time than the 50s, I can say from direct experience of the latter.
Others demolished your “first Jewish President” nonsense with minimal effort. A Jewish President who repatriates Nazi War Criminals and buries them with honors? Who wore Nazi/Czarist Insignia when meeting the late Pope? He’s the world’s highest paid actor (beats Tom Cruz by miles), he’s as “Jewish” as Obama was “Christian” when it was about killing opponents of the US, murdering a 16-year old son of an actual terrorist by drone-bombing, no trial. George Bush “Christian” when killing 1 million “evildoers” based entirely on LIES? How stupid, childish and naive are you? I don’t believe the David Ickes claim these people are literally Reptiloids, but it works as a metaphor.
Oh, please tell me if I was Evil when I risked my life going to Nicaragua during the Contra War? I’m interested in your opinion. Do brown people like me deserve to stand up for their own relatives? (I’m 11% non-white, 9% Castillian, 1% each Sardinian and Mongol.) Are brown people also subhuman like the Faggot Orcs are? Do we have no right to defend our own Raza? I’m not big on ethnicity determining behavior, racial essentialism, but it is an issue I as everyone else living in a country with strict racial hierarchies has had to deal with. Just like you undoubtedly have to deal with homophobia, perhaps even queer-bashing.
” . . . certainly not the less nazi side”!! What’s your IQ, room temperature? People who dress up in Nazi Gear, Black Sun tattoos, Mustache Man tattoos aren’t Nazi? One of the Brit Royal Brats did this at a party, it went over quite badly with the British people. Most people here aren’t remotely as stupid as you think. For the above, very hard to find the film of a certain Avraham Stein online (gosh, wonder why he was interested?) when the starving Ukrainians came out from under the Mariupol Azovstal plant and were forced to remove their shirts, and all of the above and more seen. PBS got egg on their face when they covered a “normie” (not) family who precinct walked for Trump in his first term, the parents had 88 tattoos. I know what that means, assume you do too.
A bit to that Smith character too. (The villain from The Matrix Film?) Why aren’t you in the fight, I ask Glau the same? I am too old now, when 22-23 I was unafraid. I knew the wife and younger brother of Ben Linder, murdered by a Death Squad in El Salvador, more than just an ordinary White Savior, an engineer who helped build dams and infrastructure. I’m guessing both of you admire Oliver North, a convicted criminal and perjurer, Elliot Abrams and that type? If you have nothing to be ashamed of please respond. (Your normie status is already burnt to ash in any case.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Linder
To Smithy, I know what Narrative Control is, I said upthread that’s all you practice and all you ever have. Like PLG, I’m a (retired, dunno his status) Librarian, I have an MLIS (look it up), can do research and sift truth from lies. It’s not rocket science, it’s just NOT LYING to ONESELF, Ian did a thread on how Liars destroy everything some few weeks back, have a look.
Or don’t, you’re in your own Fascist Plato’s Cave. The people who defeated Hitler and Nazism at the cost of 23-27 million of their own people are secretly fascist. Anti-Zionist Jews are guilty of the Zionist Genocide too? Nope.
Marcus Aurelius said, “You know a thing by what it does.” Nazi cheerleaders not popular, the straight ones are Incels. You can’t gild a Fascist philosophy with golden paint. Either of you could study under Hegseth with his Nazi Crusader tattoos, or the bald twerp Homunculus Stephen Miller, who his own family nicknamed Goebbels. Man up and join up, or shut up. (I’ll note LAS has children, hasn’t signed them up for Ukraine glory.) Words achieve little, Actions count.
vmsmith
@Mark Level
“1st to the odious vmsmith who wants “the last Ukrainian dead”
That’s the sort of straw man statement that detracts from any credibility you might have.
“A bit to that Smith character too . . . Why aren’t you in the fight?”
Well, I’m 74 years old, for starters, and my wife is a bit older and in need of care. But I spent most of my working life in elite combat units in the U.S. military, and if I were even as young as 50 or so, I’d probably be somewhere in Ukraine doing whatever I could. In the absence of being able to do that, I contribute money to certain “Help Ukraine” organizations that I have a reasonable degree of confidence in. And, as fruitless as it may sound, I write to my two senators and one congressional rep often to express my strong support for Ukraine.
“I have an MLIS (look it up)”
I don’t need to look it up. I was an enterprise knowledge manager at one point after my initial retirement, and had MLIS librarians working for me. Controlled vocabularies . . . taxonomies . . . ontologies . . . I am very well-versed. And one of my projects right now is developing an AI information literacy app to help people sift through the bullshit that’s flooding the info sphere these days.
Mark Level
vmsmith, thank you at least for the candor of your reply, if not all the content.
The result of your fanaticism for Ukraine and your mindless hatred of Russia will be more dead Ukrainians. So I don’t think my comment was/is straw-manning. I try very hard to be fair even to those I disagree with.
You’re throwing away your money by donating to Ukraine and Banderism, that is your perfect right however. And my respect to you and your wife for hanging on into your 70s, I’m late 60s, lucky to currently be in good health. My late Irish grandmother used to say, “Old age isn’t for sissies,” and she lived to be 99, totally blind and near-deaf at the end, but mind intact, smart as a tack.
Glad you are a professional success in life, being in management is tough, tends to sand the edges off your humanity, in most cases. I managed a couple of assistants, one was very devoted and reasonably smart, but suffered from severe Bipolar disorder, often out sick. The 2nd one had similar problems, severe migraines, over-medicated with Weed, Xanax, etc. She went insane during Covid, thought “pennies carry the virus” (!!), wouldn’t do her job; not only burned her last bridge with me, but with her family who kicked her out.
You definitely know the lingo, good luck with the app, that would be useful.
So now a question about your career as a professional Killer. I would not be comfortable doing that, I am far too humanist. I have shared that I lived in Nicaragua during the Contra War, 1983-84, I haven’t directly been in battle, but I have seen the face of War. It’s very ugly. But unlike a couple of your colleagues, I am going to assume that you know how deadly serious war and killing are.
I’m praising your life-experience here, if not your choice(s), which I cannot judge remotely. Not in any way trying to be passive-aggressive or snarky. There are Soldiers I greatly respect, Major General Smedley Butler comes to mind, I am sure you are familiar with his “War is a Racket”? So my first question, what’s your take on that?
My 2nd question to you, sincere not a “gotcha”: Years ago I read that when Winston Churchill was a young man, believe in the Navy, he saw action shelling the Mau-Mau from far off, it was just a Turkey Shoot (like the Gulf War of the 90s), the Africans never had a chance. Nonetheless he did say he greatly respected the Courage of his (state-directed) “enemies”, he did not abuse them like a lot of Chickenhawk US “patriots” do now. Trump, “They’re scum, they’re liars” etc., pretty big words for a dude with 5 “bone spurs” deferments, yet golfed successfully for 5-6 decades after. A cowardly hypocrite and anything but a “tough guy,” imo.
You seem not to think Russians are human? And your cohort seems to think Russians have no right to defend themselves or respect or support their own culture. (This is optional, I am not demanding an answer. But your cohort’s words, LAS consistently, are very clear.)
There are a lot of Ex-Military and even CIA staff I respect in the commentariat: Lt. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Larry Johnson, Brian Berletic, Kit Cabello etc. (USMC). These people post-career seem to have embraced their humanity and eschew clearly evil Aggression and murder. Viz General Butler, one of the 2 libraries I ran carried “Leatherneck”, a USMC promotions journal. One ethos central to Librarianship is you do NOT censor (except for sexual content with teenagers) viz free speech, thought, etc. My library was a friendly place for everyone that wanted to use it, we offered support, even to US Military Recruiters, who I felt some ambiguity about letting use my facilities. But I could not and did not discriminate, that would’ve been unprofessional.
So my closing question: Did Churchill have a point or not? Would like to hear your take.
I’m not a Libby Dem, I don’t cherish “civility” above all else, but you seem civil and thoughtful, so to a point I respect you. My politics are based on my Values (humanism, care for others, reciprocity, open communication and free thinking), so thanks for being civil and not like some of your Troll allies.
I look forward to 2 answers, if/when you have the time. Thanks.
Glau
@Mark
You certainly play ‘whataboutism’ well, though I note for all of your insisting that I’m a lier the only claim you actually dispute is the reason Russia invaded.
Your response to the claim that Russia would throw me in prison for being queer, like the nazis, is to claim that Poland and Ukraine are just as bad.
Your response to the idea that both sides have neo-nazis units but Russia has more is to ignore the Russian units.
Your response to the claim that Russia invaded to claim territory is that they were defending “their own Citizens, in the Donbass”- IE, it was their territory already because their citizens were there.
I don’t know why you are so emotionally invested in seeing an illiberal empire expand.
HomelessFriend
@Glau “As a side note, the use of ‘nazi’ to describe a state with an elected Jewish president makes it get clear that the poster is Russian- nowhere else in the world uses ‘nazi’ in the sense of ‘anti-soviet’ rather than ‘anti-jew’.”
Yeah that’s by design, by reducing the Nazi’s to merely eliminating Jews their genocidal war against eastern europe (lebensraum) is pushed to the historical background. That way eastern Europeans can pretend the USSR, i.e. Russia, was big bad equal to Nazi Germany. This way the emigres who worked with the Nazis, then fled west with the advance of the USSR get to absolve themselves. That is precisely the usefulness of double genocide theory and how you get Zelenskyy getting blindsided in saluting a Waffen SS trooper in Canadian Parliament. The west kept these folks in reserve to run the show whenever the seesaw tipped the other direction. Same reason we have that weird iranian prince guy.