Ukraine - Russia Conflict

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501907486969933828

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501909100397010944

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501909515876319235

Excerpts from George F Kennan's The Kennan Diaries. George Kennan, career diplomat, academic & historian , was widely respect & renowned as a foreign policy expert as well as an old Russia hand at the State Department .

He was also a member of the informal group of foreign policy experts known as The Wise Men ( thankfully no Henry Kissinger here) apart from being a key member of George Marshall's team at the State Department who drafted & enacted the Marshall Plan.

Tweeets above are what he prophesied more than 20 yrs ago. This is for your edification Paddy & Sweetie although I realize it's water off a duck's back . @BMD ; @WHOHE
 
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randomradio said:
This claim would work only if Russia goes the Iran or Venezuela way and there's a complete shut down of all trade.

For an authoritarian regime, the question is if the govt is rich and people are able to scrape by on their own with minimum effort from the govt. Russia is capable of that.
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He's been booted out of the WTO.
randomradio said:
Failure's based on commercial reasons. But for strategic reasons, a sufficiently industrialised country can pretty much build anything, even if it comes at a higher cost. That's where tariffs come into the picture. Like there's no way India's semiconductors will come in cheaper than global foundries, but we can protect our chips through tariffs and NTBs until it ultimately stands on its own feet in a decade.

In Russia's case, the cheaper currency alone will protect their market without the need for tariffs.
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Except all the main chip users have sanctioned him.
 
_Anonymous_ said:
It seems the recent move to eradicate everything Russian from American public spaces & memories isn't something new. 2 decades ago it was renaming French fries as freedom fries. Post 9/11 lynchings of Arabs or "people thought to resemble Arabs" was high .
But there's an older precedent to all this going back a century. The total eradication of the German language , culture, symbols etc from public space in the US.

It makes for one hell of a read & a huge paradox too considering German Americans are the single largest ethnic group in the US with 40 million + claiming German ancestry . How did they permit this is beyond me?! Then again how did the US build up one of the most sophisticated material civilizations in the history of mankind is also beyond me.

Just reinforces this memorable quote from Oscar Wilde coined nearly a century & a half ago -

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without knowing civilization."
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Witch-hunting has always been a deep part of the American psyche. Whether it was suspected actual witches at Salem, or more metaphorical witches such as communists in the McCarthy era.

This desire of purity by destruction of the other comes from the need of the dominant Anglo culture to establish supremacy over a multiracial, multicultural ensemble. America was colonized by various European countries, they brought thousands of African slaves who themselves came from various different cultures, and of course there were the natives, which themselves had many different languages and cultures. In front of all forced diversity, the Anglos desired nothing more than to establish uniformity. Nowadays, they have largely succeeded, eradicating all traces of culture from their continent, leaving only soulless consumerism and corporate branding as a substitute; but their instinctive need to witch-hunt has never abated. Just like an overzealous immune system ends up attacking its own body, the Anglo witch-hunting instinct is now an auto-immune disease that targets themselves. Hence the whole "woke" phenomenon whose battlecry is to cancel everything.
_Anonymous_ said:
It seems the recent move to eradicate everything Russian from American public spaces & memories isn't something new. 2 decades ago it was renaming French fries as freedom fries. Post 9/11 lynchings of Arabs or "people thought to resemble Arabs" was high .
But there's an older precedent to all this going back a century. The total eradication of the German language , culture, symbols etc from public space in the US.

It makes for one hell of a read & a huge paradox too considering German Americans are the single largest ethnic group in the US with 40 million + claiming German ancestry . How did they permit this is beyond me?! Then again how did the US build up one of the most sophisticated material civilizations in the history of mankind is also beyond me.

Just reinforces this memorable quote from Oscar Wilde coined nearly a century & a half ago -

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without knowing civilization."
Click to expand...
Witch-hunting has always been a deep part of the American psyche. Whether it was suspected actual witches at Salem, or more metaphorical witches such as communists in the McCarthy era.

This desire of purity by destruction of the other comes from the need of the dominant Anglo culture to establish supremacy over a multiracial, multicultural ensemble. America was colonized by various European countries, they brought thousands of African slaves who themselves came from various different cultures, and of course there were the natives, which themselves had many different languages and cultures. In front of all forced diversity, the Anglos desired nothing more than to establish uniformity. Nowadays, they have largely succeeded, eradicating all traces of culture from their continent, leaving only soulless consumerism and corporate branding as a substitute; but their instinctive need to witch-hunt has never abated. Just like an overzealous immune system ends up attacking its own body, the Anglo witch-hunting instinct is now an auto-immune disease that targets themselves. Hence the whole "woke" phenomenon whose battlecry is to cancel everything.
 
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_Anonymous_ said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1502140540552425473


THREAD!!

It seems the recent move to eradicate everything Russian from American public spaces & memories isn't something new. 2 decades ago it was renaming French fries as freedom fries. Post 9/11 lynchings of Arabs or "people thought to resemble Arabs" was high .
But there's an older precedent to all this going back a century. The total eradication of the German language , culture, symbols etc from public space in the US.

It makes for one hell of a read & a huge paradox too considering German Americans are the single largest ethnic group in the US with 40 million + claiming German ancestry . How did they permit this is beyond me?! Then again how did the US build up one of the most sophisticated material civilizations in the history of mankind is also beyond me.

Just reinforces this memorable quote from Oscar Wilde coined nearly a century & a half ago -

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without knowing civilization."

How pleadest thou, sweetie? @WHOHE
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Violence against Russian soldiers. Subtle difference. That's why comrade Putin banned it along with decreeing 15 year prison sentences for anyone questioning his narrative on the Ukraine "special military operation" or calling it "a war".
 
A Person said:
Witch-hunting has always been a deep part of the American psyche. Whether it was suspected actual witches at Salem, or more metaphorical witches such as communists in the McCarthy era.

This desire of purity by destruction of the other comes from the need of the dominant Anglo culture to establish supremacy over a multiracial, multicultural ensemble. America was colonized by various European countries, they brought thousands of African slaves who themselves came from various different cultures, and of course there were the natives, which themselves had many different languages and cultures. In front of all forced diversity, the Anglos desired nothing more than to establish uniformity. Nowadays, they have largely succeeded, eradicating all traces of culture from their continent, leaving only soulless consumerism and corporate branding as a substitute; but their instinctive need to witch-hunt has never abated. Just like an overzealous immune system ends up attacking its own body, the Anglo witch-hunting instinct is now an auto-immune disease that targets themselves. Hence the whole "woke" phenomenon whose battlecry is to cancel everything.

Witch-hunting has always been a deep part of the American psyche. Whether it was suspected actual witches at Salem, or more metaphorical witches such as communists in the McCarthy era.

This desire of purity by destruction of the other comes from the need of the dominant Anglo culture to establish supremacy over a multiracial, multicultural ensemble. America was colonized by various European countries, they brought thousands of African slaves who themselves came from various different cultures, and of course there were the natives, which themselves had many different languages and cultures. In front of all forced diversity, the Anglos desired nothing more than to establish uniformity. Nowadays, they have largely succeeded, eradicating all traces of culture from their continent, leaving only soulless consumerism and corporate branding as a substitute; but their instinctive need to witch-hunt has never abated. Just like an overzealous immune system ends up attacking its own body, the Anglo witch-hunting instinct is now an auto-immune disease that targets themselves. Hence the whole "woke" phenomenon whose battlecry is to cancel everything.
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Hilarious, I don't see Japanese culture being cancelled, or Korean, or Kiwi. European culture is also very diverse, it just probably doesn't look that way to an outsider. Multiculturalism is also present is western music and film. Not saying there aren't problems, but you won't find as many different cultures living together more harmoniously in any other parts of the world.

You talk of witch-hunting but no mention of the 15 year prison sentence in place in Russia for people who question Putin's narrative on Ukraine, or even call it 'a war' rather than a special military operation. You don't mention that Putin is a relic of a Communist regime that cancelled all culture and religion, Stalin who cancelled tens of millions, that spread to China and has currently resulted in millions in concentration camps being 're-educated' today and up to 100 million dying in the past. Putin over the last 20 years has cancelled all his critics and opposition.

Your view of the present remains distorted by a 50 year-old event involving the worst US leader ever, and even older events involving ancient empires.
www.defenseone.com

Russian Jets Flying 200 Sorties a Day, But Firing from Their Own Airspace, Pentagon Says

Ukraine is also being conservative with its airpower.
www.defenseone.com www.defenseone.com
 
Interview with a Polish volunteer fighting in Ukraine. Some information on tactics:

I was in a group of 130, 90 of them Japanese. The others were Americans, British and five Poles, one of them from the Foreign Legion, after missions in Afghanistan. Those who had done their military service or were involved in conflicts had two days of training and were immediately transferred to the front. Others, who were more passionate and came with good will, had to stay longer in the training.

I remember that when I arrived, the Americans had also come. Among them were two men, the older ones in their fifties. It turned out that they were former American pilots, they had more than 1500 hours of flying time. When the Ukrainians found out, we never saw them again.

I served in the Polish army, where I was an RPG shooter, so after two days I was directed to action. Now I am part of a team of 25 people, with the Americans and the British.

We are destroying the Russian columns. As far as I know, the main roads throughout Ukraine, and especially during the hostilities, are occupied by Ukrainians. The task of my team of 25 people and the people who change us in the trenches of our station is to shoot these columns. As you know, the Russians are currently trying to get to Kiev with fuel, logistics and the army. We are transported from where we are stationed by cars to the station and there we lie down in the trenches and wait. 10 of these 25, including myself, have Javelin missile launchers

Using the Javelin is child's play. Even you would be able to handle it after one minute, because it is like a video game. This two-day training was to learn how to use the Javelin. The Ukrainians were only interested in whether I was fit.

Before the first battle, we were three times in the same position, lying in the trenches for 12 hours waiting for the Russian column. As I said, all the main roads are guarded by the Ukrainian army, and the secondary forest roads are flanked by groups like mine who have to attack to prevent any further movement on that road and flee immediately.

For the Russians, this is very mentally devastating, as they know that whatever route they try to take, there is always someone waiting for them. Even the small forest passes are protected by the Ukrainians. We sit masked in the trenches, because in front of each of these columns a drone is watching the area. In the end, such a column arrived at the place where we were waiting.

It was a column of 30 to 40 vehicles. Cars, supply trucks, combat vehicles. There were no tanks because it was a forest road.

It was basically a tanker hunt. But mostly we hit the front to stop them from going further and to create panic. We hit the vehicles at the beginning of the column and the tanker there.
 
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A Ukrainian stamp to commemorate the reply of Ukrainian soldiers on Serpentine Island to the Russian warship: "f.uck you!"

FNotbnxXsAE9VSB
 
BMD said:
Violence against Russian soldiers. Subtle difference. That's why comrade Putin banned it along with decreeing 15 year prison sentences for anyone questioning his narrative on the Ukraine "special military operation" or calling it "a war".
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Did you read the thread Paddy ? Was it about Russia or the US ? Which nation among the 2 keeps singing paens to democracy & human rights sounding obnoxiously self righteous 24x7 ? No , we aren't discussing UK here . Btw , the coming economic downturn may just about accelerate the dismantling of the United part in your decrepit kingdom over a period of time. It's called the doctrine of unintended consequences. Like how WW-2 ended up dismantling colonialism .You should read up more on it .
 
BMD said:
You talk of witch-hunting but no mention of the 15 year prison sentence in place in Russia for people who question Putin's narrative on Ukraine, or even call it 'a war' rather than a special military operation. You don't mention that Putin is a relic of a Communist regime that cancelled all culture and religion, Stalin who cancelled tens of millions, that spread to China and has currently resulted in millions in concentration camps being 're-educated' today and up to 100 million dying in the past. Putin over the last 20 years has cancelled all his critics and opposition.
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That's a different issue altogether. The Russian psyche suffers from strongman syndrome, the idea that a country that vast can only be held by the firm hand of a bloodthirsty tyrant. The Czars, the Soviets, and now the Czar again. This is violence from the state exerted against its population. In America it's violence from the population exerted against itself; the state can be complicit by allowing it to happen but isn't the origin.

Anyways, yes, of course Russia sucks. When Putin decided to start the invasion, on 24 of February, that was the sign that his carefully cultivated image as a judoka and a chess master was bollocks. It was a strategic mistake that will weaken Russia for a long, long time, economically, militarily, and diplomatically; and that's even if the invasion is finally successful. At this point I believe the only honorable exit for Russia is for a palace coup to happen; with Putin overthrown and the new government deciding an immediate halt to the "special military operation". Anything short of that will not allow the damage to be repaired before a very long while.
 
A Person said:
That's a different issue altogether. The Russian psyche suffers from strongman syndrome, the idea that a country that vast can only be held by the firm hand of a bloodthirsty tyrant. The Czars, the Soviets, and now the Czar again. This is violence from the state exerted against its population. In America it's violence from the population exerted against itself; the state can be complicit by allowing it to happen but isn't the origin.

Anyways, yes, of course Russia sucks. When Putin decided to start the invasion, on 24 of February, that was the sign that his carefully cultivated image as a judoka and a chess master was bollocks. It was a strategic mistake that will weaken Russia for a long, long time, economically, militarily, and diplomatically; and that's even if the invasion is finally successful. At this point I believe the only honorable exit for Russia is for a palace coup to happen; with Putin overthrown and the new government deciding an immediate halt to the "special military operation". Anything short of that will not allow the damage to be repaired before a very long while.
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State isn't the origin ? It's a schizophrenic state . Right from the Indian wars to Jim Crow laws to the McCarthyism the US state has not only been only complicit but the origin as in the cases listed above .

If the war prolongs the long term prospects for Russia & Putin's future are already sealed. What would it do to Europe's future is much more interesting ? Nobody would emerge from this intact or stronger. It's best embodied in a local saying out here : hum toh doobe sanam , saath tumhe bhi le doobenge.
 
A Person said:
That's a different issue altogether. The Russian psyche suffers from strongman syndrome, the idea that a country that vast can only be held by the firm hand of a bloodthirsty tyrant. The Czars, the Soviets, and now the Czar again. This is violence from the state exerted against its population. In America it's violence from the population exerted against itself; the state can be complicit by allowing it to happen but isn't the origin.

Anyways, yes, of course Russia sucks. When Putin decided to start the invasion, on 24 of February, that was the sign that his carefully cultivated image as a judoka and a chess master was bollocks. It was a strategic mistake that will weaken Russia for a long, long time, economically, militarily, and diplomatically; and that's even if the invasion is finally successful. At this point I believe the only honorable exit for Russia is for a palace coup to happen; with Putin overthrown and the new government deciding an immediate halt to the "special military operation". Anything short of that will not allow the damage to be repaired before a very long while.
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Okay, but you mentioned the McCarthy era, which definitely came from the state.

That much I agree with, he's decided to commit suicide and taken his country with him.
Picdelamirand-oil said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1502583394236043266
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I bet the people sent out in T-64s against Javelins were like, "can I just fly a plane packed with explosives into a building instead?"
 
@Picdelamirand-oil

randomradio said:
The Russians could improve their industry by stealing patented technologies and improving on it, especially so if the sanctions get worse. There's also the massive threat of Russia militarising other rogue countries like NoKo, which can provide Russia leverage over China.
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indiatimes.com

Russia Legalises Piracy, Allows Companies To Steal Patents From Unfriendly Nations

The move removes any kinds of protections whatsoever for patent holders registered in hostile nations, do business in them or hold their nationality. This move comes right after several global businesses decided to walk out of the nation after Russia decided to invade Ukraine.
indiatimes.com indiatimes.com
 
The west seems to think that they've covered everything with sanctions & all that they've to do is see Russia being strangulated by it over a period of time . I don't think Putin or Russia intend to roll over & die after this war ends . This is just the beginning. This isn't like sanctioning Iran or North Korea or even Venezuela here . It's going to get a lot messier & will cut both ways .

The Russians will feel the brunt , of this I've no doubt but the Europeans will also face quite a lot of problems. The only difference being the Russians are used to hardships. It's been true of them since the past 100 yrs interspersed by few years which were either better or worse than normal i.e hardships. The rest of Europe has been enjoying the peace dividend since long . How geared up are they to face this will be interesting to see .
 
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