movielover said:

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Col McGregor - Not Good Strategy

Many good general points.

- Elon Musk providing the valuable Starlink system to Ukraine
- Ukraine started out with 600k trained troops
- delves into George Soros a bit, and the billionaire funding two Nazi regimes
- brief mention of Victoria Nuland
- Taiwan and China

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🇺🇦 In Kiev they are collecting books in Russian, which they plan to send for recycling. This is the result of Western operatives stoking ethnic hatred in Ukraine for decades. pic.twitter.com/dW0dchnjm7

— 🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉 (@apocalypseos) January 7, 2023

Cal88 said:

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🇺🇦 In Kiev they are collecting books in Russian, which they plan to send for recycling. This is the result of Western operatives stoking ethnic hatred in Ukraine for decades. pic.twitter.com/dW0dchnjm7

— 🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉 (@apocalypseos) January 7, 2023

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Quote:

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The successful Ukrainian defense and the Russian losses are good news for Ukraine. Every bit of optimism, however, must be tempered by two realities. First, Ukraine remains outnumbered and potentially outgunned by a much larger Russian Federation. The Ukrainians have survived this far through a combination of excellent strategy, the resilience of its people and their leaders, an infusion of highly lethal Western weapons, the courage of the men and women on the front lines, and a mind-boggling amount of Russian incompetence and stupidity.

The second reality, however, is that the Russians don't really care about losses. They are willing to sacrifice their own men by the truckload. We are all rightly appalled by the damage the Kremlin is willing to inflict on Ukraine and its people in its unprovoked aggression, but Putin's cruelty extends to his fellow citizens: He is sending untrained, under-provisioned, and poorly armed men to their death literally to try to plug the holes in his lines with human meatwhich is what one of their own commanders has reportedly called them. The Russian president hates Ukrainians, but he and his senior officers seem to hate their own men nearly as much.

Meanwhile, on New Year's Evewith so many Russian soldiers only hours from being killed in their bunksPutin's minions hosted a televised party that defies description. Performers put on cheesy song-and-dance numbers seemingly lifted from 1970s Soviet pop culture while Russian officers (whose gaudy dress uniforms looked like they were stolen from the palace guards of a James Bond villain) looked on with forced smiles. Parts of the telecast looked as if they had been shot elsewhere and then chroma-keyed into the production, adding a shiny gloss of unreality to the whole mess. One of the hosts, decked out in a red velvet tux, even chortled a cartoonishly evil threat into the camera: "Like it or not, Russia is enlarging!"

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Unit2Sucks said:

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The pro Kremlin crowd will never examine the ghoulish destruction they cheerlead for because the propaganda tends to gloss over it.

Quote:

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The successful Ukrainian defense and the Russian losses are good news for Ukraine. Every bit of optimism, however, must be tempered by two realities. First, Ukraine remains outnumbered and potentially outgunned by a much larger Russian Federation. The Ukrainians have survived this far through a combination of excellent strategy, the resilience of its people and their leaders, an infusion of highly lethal Western weapons, the courage of the men and women on the front lines, and a mind-boggling amount of Russian incompetence and stupidity.

The second reality, however, is that the Russians don't really care about losses. They are willing to sacrifice their own men by the truckload. We are all rightly appalled by the damage the Kremlin is willing to inflict on Ukraine and its people in its unprovoked aggression, but Putin's cruelty extends to his fellow citizens: He is sending untrained, under-provisioned, and poorly armed men to their death literally to try to plug the holes in his lines with human meatwhich is what one of their own commanders has reportedly called them. The Russian president hates Ukrainians, but he and his senior officers seem to hate their own men nearly as much.

Meanwhile, on New Year's Evewith so many Russian soldiers only hours from being killed in their bunksPutin's minions hosted a televised party that defies description. Performers put on cheesy song-and-dance numbers seemingly lifted from 1970s Soviet pop culture while Russian officers (whose gaudy dress uniforms looked like they were stolen from the palace guards of a James Bond villain) looked on with forced smiles. Parts of the telecast looked as if they had been shot elsewhere and then chroma-keyed into the production, adding a shiny gloss of unreality to the whole mess. One of the hosts, decked out in a red velvet tux, even chortled a cartoonishly evil threat into the camera: "Like it or not, Russia is enlarging!"

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https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/01/russias-depraved-decadence/672632/

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dimitrig said:

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Cal88 said:

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🇺🇦 In Kiev they are collecting books in Russian, which they plan to send for recycling. This is the result of Western operatives stoking ethnic hatred in Ukraine for decades. pic.twitter.com/dW0dchnjm7

— 🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉 (@apocalypseos) January 7, 2023

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I am sure this invasion by Russia will win the hearts and minds of the Ukrainians.

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movielover said:

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Why did Putin not touch Ukraine from 2000 to 2014? It was almost a non issue. Why the change?

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The yellow/blue graves are innocent conscripts who never wanted to fight.

The red/black graves show the those Nazi hardliners, for whom it is an honour to die. Hardened up from birth to serve Hitler’s successors.

Let’s pray for those in Yellow/blue. pic.twitter.com/OMWeVwXBMI

— Make Peace Now; alternative news (@DoctorGerhard) January 8, 2023

movielover said:

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6. Not working with Victoria Nuland to overthrow a Russia election

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sycasey said:

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movielover said:

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Why did Putin not touch Ukraine from 2000 to 2014? It was almost a non issue. Why the change?

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Because they basically had leaders who were under his thumb before then. After Yanukovych got tossed in favor of much less Russia-friendly government, Putin got aggressive.

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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sycasey said:

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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No matter how many times the "dynamics" are explained to me, they still don't justify a military invasion.

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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No matter how many times the "dynamics" are explained to me, they still don't justify a military invasion.

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From the perspective of a detached academic or a realist geopolitician, those dynamics explain the war.

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Cal88 said:

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How about those 3 amigos?

These 3 American men have invaded 9 countries in 23 years, killed 11 million civilians and no one calls them 'war criminals'
🤔 pic.twitter.com/h6gJ2B4WI4

— Richard (@ricwe123) January 4, 2023

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sycasey said:

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Cal88 said:

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How about those 3 amigos?

These 3 American men have invaded 9 countries in 23 years, killed 11 million civilians and no one calls them 'war criminals'
🤔 pic.twitter.com/h6gJ2B4WI4

— Richard (@ricwe123) January 4, 2023

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Iraq was a massive f***-up and we should never forgive Bush for that. Even given that, it's not like the US actually wanted to annex Iraq as official territory or something. It's not the same as what Putin is doing in Ukraine.

The rest are relatively limited actions that don't come anywhere close to the wholesale invasion happening in Ukraine right now. Your deflections are pathetic.

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Big C said:

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sycasey said:

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Cal88 said:

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How about those 3 amigos?

These 3 American men have invaded 9 countries in 23 years, killed 11 million civilians and no one calls them 'war criminals'
🤔 pic.twitter.com/h6gJ2B4WI4

— Richard (@ricwe123) January 4, 2023

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Iraq was a massive f***-up and we should never forgive Bush for that. Even given that, it's not like the US actually wanted to annex Iraq as official territory or something. It's not the same as what Putin is doing in Ukraine.

The rest are relatively limited actions that don't come anywhere close to the wholesale invasion happening in Ukraine right now. Your deflections are pathetic.

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I don't know. We get to invade any country, any time we want, even under false pretenses for the purposes of regime change (Iraq, pretty much also Vietnam... haven't looked closely enough to see if there are any more)?

Putin's invasion of Ukraine might be the most egregious (again, I don't know, how many people died in Vietnam?) and I am in no way whatsoever supporting him or his actions (and we are right to be supporting Ukraine). But while I like to think that my own country is "the good guys" -- and in this situation we are -- a look at our history tells me that we are not always so good.

There was a time in each of our invasions where they were strongly supported by the American people, largely because of government propaganda. (Barbara Lee: profile in courage)

I think the United States is a great country that has also proven to have had great flaws.

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world, where people from the other side of the river or mountain can have a very distinct ethno-linguistic background.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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sycasey said:

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Big C said:

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sycasey said:

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Cal88 said:

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How about those 3 amigos?

These 3 American men have invaded 9 countries in 23 years, killed 11 million civilians and no one calls them 'war criminals'
🤔 pic.twitter.com/h6gJ2B4WI4

— Richard (@ricwe123) January 4, 2023

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Iraq was a massive f***-up and we should never forgive Bush for that. Even given that, it's not like the US actually wanted to annex Iraq as official territory or something. It's not the same as what Putin is doing in Ukraine.

The rest are relatively limited actions that don't come anywhere close to the wholesale invasion happening in Ukraine right now. Your deflections are pathetic.

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I don't know. We get to invade any country, any time we want, even under false pretenses for the purposes of regime change (Iraq, pretty much also Vietnam... haven't looked closely enough to see if there are any more)?

Putin's invasion of Ukraine might be the most egregious (again, I don't know, how many people died in Vietnam?) and I am in no way whatsoever supporting him or his actions (and we are right to be supporting Ukraine). But while I like to think that my own country is "the good guys" -- and in this situation we are -- a look at our history tells me that we are not always so good.

There was a time in each of our invasions where they were strongly supported by the American people, largely because of government propaganda. (Barbara Lee: profile in courage)

I think the United States is a great country that has also proven to have had great flaws.

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And again: I generally do not support such actions by the US. But people like Cal88 are only using them as a way to deflect and distract from what Putin and his ilk are doing, to act like it's all fair and equivalent. No it isn't.

Just look at what he did above: posts a picture of Clinton, Bush, and Obama and then follows up with graphics detailing US military operations in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. What does any of that have to do with those guys? Nothing, it is just a big distraction and smokescreen.

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dajo9 said:

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world, where people from the other side of the river or mountain can have a very distinct ethno-linguistic background.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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You try to make so much of language. It means nothing. My mother in law grew up in Switzerland and speaks German. She hates the "krauts" (her word, not mine). There can be a lot of reasons why people in Europe learn a language of a country they don't like - or grow not to like.

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Cal88 said:

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dajo9 said:

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Cal88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Yeah, there are cultural divides in a lot of countries, including the United States. That doesn't mean that if Alaska doesn't vote for Joe Biden that Russia gets to invade there too.

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The cultural divide in Ukraine is nothing like that in the US, not even close. If nearly half of the US spoke German since the late 1700s, you might start to approximate the divide in Ukraine.

The USA is a remarkably homogeneous newly settled country, with a highly mobile population, compared to all other large countries, especially those from the old world, where people from the other side of the river or mountain can have a very distinct ethno-linguistic background.

That lack of cultural perspective is one of the main reasons people don't seem to grasp the basic dynamics in post-Soviet and Maidan Coup Ukraine.

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You try to make so much of language. It means nothing. My mother in law grew up in Switzerland and speaks German. She hates the "krauts" (her word, not mine). There can be a lot of reasons why people in Europe learn a language of a country they don't like - or grow not to like.

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You have very little understanding of European national, ethnic and linguistic identity dynamics. The US is its own universe, it is very naive to transpose your particular framework onto the old world.

Switzerland has its own national identity, and they have been the example of a country with different linguistic communities coming together over the last several centuries to form a very united nation. Bern would never contemplate imposing German on the Valais or Ticino the way Kiev has been imposing Galician language and culture on the east and south of Ukraine, not in a million years.

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