Post #440,974
2/24/22 3:35:38 AM
2/24/22 3:36:49 AM
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The arsehole went and did it: Russia invading Ukraine.
--
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Edited by CRConrad
Feb. 24, 2022, 03:36:49 AM EST
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Post #440,975
2/24/22 3:50:47 AM
2/24/22 3:50:47 AM
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Ukraine to challenge Russia’s seat and veto on the UN Security Council?
So something interesting that could be developing at the UN: Ukraine appears to be laying the groundwork to challenge whether the Russian Federation is the legitimate successor to the USSR’s seat and veto on the Security Council https://twitter.com/HayesBrown/status/1496710912648044548--
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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Post #440,976
2/24/22 4:44:45 AM
2/24/22 4:44:45 AM
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Putin doesn't care
And he didn't bother with a small region. He's going to roll over the entire country.
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Post #440,977
2/24/22 7:49:02 AM
2/24/22 7:49:02 AM
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It's not 2014.
He and Russia will pay a heavy price. 40,000,000 Ukrainians don't want him there and will fight.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #440,979
2/24/22 11:55:41 AM
2/24/22 11:55:41 AM
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he will install a pro russian government and slowly withdraw after pacification
is the plan dunno how well it is going to work "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #440,981
2/24/22 10:44:01 PM
2/24/22 10:44:01 PM
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Well, even Russians are not going along with the invasion.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #440,984
2/25/22 11:15:49 AM
2/25/22 11:15:49 AM
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It's worse than 2014
Internet dependency combined with facial recognition? They can track down everybody in the population they don't like and take them away. This is not a democracy.
Who gives a s*** what the people on the streets are doing. Great, let's figure out everybody in that crowd via facial recognition and track them down individually and take them away. As far as Putin is concerned he runs the place and those people don't mean s***.
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Post #440,986
2/25/22 11:25:54 AM
2/25/22 11:25:54 AM
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Remember the Russian apartment bombings?
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Post #440,982
2/25/22 2:36:08 AM
2/25/22 2:36:08 AM
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No, exactly.
After four years of Trump presidency, and Bog knows how many more years of Russian troll factory influence on American (anti-)social media, one of the big differences vs 2014 is that now a much higher proportion of uncritical Putin mouthpieces online seem to be Americans. --
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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Post #440,985
2/25/22 11:19:00 AM
2/25/22 11:19:00 AM
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No, maybe 100,000 spread across that population will.
The rest will either be refugees or doing exactly what they are told. When you say no to the Russians they simply kill your family along with you. Then they toss out the bags of heads as a warning to others.
There will always be pockets of resistance and Putin doesn't give a s***.
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Post #440,988
2/25/22 1:17:00 PM
2/25/22 1:21:56 PM
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Ukraine has a very long history of fighting outsiders.
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Post #440,990
2/25/22 1:37:47 PM
2/25/22 1:37:47 PM
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"with many cases of collaboration with the German forces" don't hold yer breath on tht group
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #440,991
2/25/22 1:49:26 PM
2/25/22 1:49:26 PM
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I was reluctant to cite that, but didn't have time to find something better.
Yeah, too many paint Ukraine as being a hotbed of Nazi-ism. It's not. History is complicated.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #440,996
2/25/22 9:26:13 PM
2/25/22 9:26:13 PM
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You couldn't have found a better way of sounding exactly like...
...a Putin apologist. It's getting harder and harder to accept the constant stream of pro-Trump, pro-Putin, pro-anything that's evil in this world posts from you as "just contrarianism" or "sheer coincidence". One is reminded of the classic Mitchell and Webb sketch... Except, nobody in real life can of course actually be quite that naïve. Occam's Razor suggests it's genuine intent. --
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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Post #440,997
2/25/22 9:37:54 PM
2/25/22 9:37:54 PM
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nope, putin is entirely wrong and I hope the russian people pull him off his throne
pro trump? read me in my posts "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #441,004
2/26/22 7:25:21 AM
2/26/22 7:25:21 AM
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Then why the fuck do you sound exactly like his trolls all the time?
Are you actually totally fucking stupid, or just stupidly thoughtless?
If the later, just fucking simply stop that and start thinking in stead. Your brain is a free resource; the best way to ensure it's engaged before you post is keeping it switched on all the time.
Pro Trump? Yeah, that's what far too many of your posts sound exactly like, cher Michel. --
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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Post #441,033
2/28/22 7:47:55 AM
2/28/22 7:47:55 AM
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Only ~9 years before Operation Barbarossa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HolodomorStalin tried to subjugate Ukraine by deliberately starving the population. Millions died. That goes a long way toward explaining why the Ukranians were happy to see the Germans arrive in 1941. (But the Nazis did not bother to hide their true intent so in general, that feeling was very brief.)
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Post #441,043
2/28/22 10:31:07 PM
2/28/22 10:31:07 PM
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You got it! And a lot of people sufferred from communism in other ways too.
The Germans screwed up their welcome in a number of ways. Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,109
3/8/22 11:07:15 PM
3/8/22 11:07:15 PM
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Here's some related information in Smithsonian magazine.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,110
3/9/22 12:05:19 PM
3/9/22 12:05:19 PM
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A kinda related thread, on Russia's economy.
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501360272442896388Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani
Let's discuss Russian economy. Many underestimate its dependency upon technological import. Russia's so deeply integrated into Western technological chains that severing these ties will lead to its collapse. Sanctions are already effective and can be made even more efficient🧵 Basically, the mobsters control the "easy" stuff (oil, gas, mining), while the engineers and nerds run the complex stuff (manufacturing) but have no power and are undercut by the mobsters above them. So they're highly vulnerable to boycotts from the outside. It's pretty long (be sure to expand the "more comments"), but very thought provoking. Cheers, Scott.
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Post #441,113
3/9/22 10:36:59 PM
3/9/22 10:36:59 PM
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Interesting! Makes sanctions more powerful to bring Russia down.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,112
3/9/22 10:31:56 PM
3/9/22 10:31:56 PM
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Good read. Thank you.
Europe will be dealing with the shadow of that conflict for a long time to come. West-Germany dealt with the past, but the rest never did.
I do see parallels with what happened internally in Belgium, another one of those places that had always been part of one glorious empire or another, and the antics of part of Flanders'* populace leading up to and during WW II. The basics came down to the economic elites speaking French and the peasants Flemish. Queue some choice fake news about Flemish boys dying in the WW I trenches because their French speaking officers were unable to give them proper orders, and by the time the Germans came around again, there were several legions who saw them as saviors from oppression, and who were more than eager to do their bidding.
* For completeness, there was collaboration on the French speaking side as well, but the connection between das Deutsche volk and le people Wallonne was nowhere near as strong as the one to het Vlaamse volk.
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Post #440,994
2/25/22 4:04:11 PM
2/25/22 4:04:11 PM
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You are citing a group of people from 70 years ago
They grew up in a much different world. Most of current the Ukrainians grew up under Russian domination. Sure they revolted a bit but the tanks didn't roll in yet.
And that other group of bastards was exterminating the Poles at that point.
History may be complex but right now it's obvious who's going to simply take what he wants.
Remember they were partying in the nightclubs for the last couple of weeks because they have this fatalistic attitude of what will be will be. Well it will be now.
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Post #440,995
2/25/22 5:36:21 PM
2/25/22 5:36:21 PM
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They threw off an attempted dictator in 2014. A million in the streets.
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Post #441,076
3/4/22 9:28:28 AM
3/4/22 9:30:19 AM
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Alex, I'm sorry, but ^ he's right.
It sickens me to see what is happening in Ukraine. A lot of the US video I've seen has the hotel my family and I lived in during our stay in Kiev in the background (my fourth grade school was behind that hotel). I said at the outset that we were going to let Putin have all of Ukraine to avoid risking nuclear confrontation with Russia. If anyone thinks Putin isn't batshit crazy enough to launch as a final middle finger to the West then they haven't been paying attention and/or don't understand Soviet thinking. And make no mistake, that's what we're dealing with in the Russian government now - aging Soviets who grew up in a country that no longer exists and whose experiences and education are anchor-less in a world in which there is no CCCP. Things will not get better in Russia until this generation dies and a new generation, born after the end of the Soviet Union takes power. Of course, it could be too late by then. This is not to suggest that we are entirely blameless here. Declassified documents demonstrate that Gorbachev's claim he was lied to about NATO expansion turns out to be true. That the unindicted war criminal Victoria Nuland was involved with members of the Svoboda Neo-Nazis, I think, is beyond dispute. That Svoboda candidates got less than 2% of the vote in the last election is a fact buried under a tsunami of Soviet Russian "Anti-Nazi" propaganda. (Aside: this is classic Soviet propaganda: distort a fact and use it as the basis for your outlandish, false claims). Putin's actions in Ukraine are unspeakably barbaric and cannot be dismissed. There is no context in which Putin's actions are understandable, let alone excusable. None of that really matters. What matters is Ukrainians can look neither West nor East for protection. Not East for obvious reasons. Not West over a not completely unjustified fear of nuclear war. Not to be glib, but in a Star Trek film Captain Picard said it best when speaking about the Borg, "They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here. This far. No further." This is the attitude we must have with Russian aggression - even at the risk of nuclear war. For if we can allow the savagery being committed by Russians against Ukrainians for the sake of a little temporary peace, what is the point of "saving" any of us? I hope your family and friends are safe and survive this horror, Alex. But I fear Macron was right when he said this week, "The worst is yet to come." bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
Edited by mmoffitt
March 4, 2022, 09:30:19 AM EST
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Post #441,091
3/5/22 12:16:38 AM
3/5/22 12:16:38 AM
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MM is totally right. How often do I agree with MM?
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Post #441,108
3/7/22 11:21:04 AM
3/7/22 11:21:04 AM
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Are you trying to weaken my conviction? </jk>
bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #441,101
3/6/22 10:42:51 PM
3/6/22 10:42:51 PM
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I'm glad to see your post and see that you're getting real news.
It is depressing to see what the Russians have done so far.
But, I am proud of what the Ukrainians have done. They have fought back smartly and effectively given their much smaller resources. The 3 day takeover of Ukraine that was predicted did not happen. Kyiv while Putin's primary target is still Ukrainian. That's where Putin expects to to have a bogus government set up.
Kharkiv, only 20 miles away from the border with Russia and where almost everyone speaks Russian has made it obvious that they are Ukrainian and do not want to lose freedom. When Russian's begin to kill civilians and wipe out buildings, it tells us the Russian military know they are not welcome and will be paying a heavy price.
200K soldiers are not enough to control 40M Ukrainians. It would not surprise me if they never make it to control West Ukraine (e.g. city of Lviv).
The total dismemberment of all non-government TV and and Radio in Russia and silencing of international news reporters works for a while, but truth will eventually make it to the Russian public. Using the words "war" or "invasion" in talking about the Russian military activity in Ukraine puts you in prison for 15 years! Several thousand protestors have been arrested. It may be a very slow process, but the truth of what is happening in Ukraine and Russia may lead to Putin's end. The sanctions will make everyone want to know why they are suffering.
I have no contacts in Ukraine. My father had a sister that never married and his uncles died in Siberia back in the 1930's. My mother had sisters who had children, but when she died, so did any communication with them. Unfortunately, they are located just North of Crimea and now under Russian control. Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,107
3/7/22 11:20:03 AM
3/7/22 11:20:03 AM
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You are quite right to be proud of Ukrainians.
The whole world should be proud of them. On this being the end for Putin, I was speaking to a friend of mine about the invasion on the first or second day of Russia's invasion and after discussing the likely prospect that no one would come to Ukraine's aid (militarily), I said, "The only positive thing one can hope, and it is nowhere near sufficient to accept anything Russia has done, is that this will be Putin's Afghanistan. Afghanistan cost Gorbachev everything, hopefully Ukraine will cost Putin everything."
(Aside: I know the flaw in this analogy. Unlike Putin, Gorbachev considered Afghanistan a mistake and began planning an exit as soon as he became General Secretary. However, that Afghanistan accelerated the fall of the Soviet Union cannot be argued against imo.)
That's not enough, of course. But if we aren't prepared to risk a nuclear exchange over what is being done to Ukrainians then there is nothing worthy of the risk. bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #440,983
2/25/22 2:49:24 AM
2/25/22 5:12:30 AM
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Hmm.... Could this actually be a true story? (Spoiler alert: No.)
--
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Edited by CRConrad
Feb. 25, 2022, 05:12:30 AM EST
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Post #440,998
2/25/22 10:41:54 PM
2/25/22 10:41:54 PM
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DW livestream from Kyiv
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Post #440,999
2/25/22 11:55:03 PM
2/25/22 11:55:03 PM
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Ukraine strikes Russian air base.
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Post #441,013
2/26/22 9:39:23 PM
2/26/22 9:39:23 PM
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Need to do that in White Russia (Belarus) as well!
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,000
2/26/22 12:40:43 AM
2/26/22 12:40:43 AM
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Molotov cocktails...
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Post #441,012
2/26/22 9:37:03 PM
2/26/22 9:37:03 PM
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Link didn't work.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #441,019
2/26/22 11:24:55 PM
2/26/22 11:24:55 PM
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It's a clip from a 2015 Maidan movie that's going around.
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Post #441,011
2/26/22 8:35:30 PM
2/26/22 8:35:30 PM
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Deutsche Sprachübung:
--
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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