Russia/Ukraine from Another Perspective (Relaunch Part Deux)

531,550 Views | 9448 Replies | Last: 1 hr ago by nortex97
AtticusMatlock
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BRICS is a loose economic partnership of countries, some of whom hate each other, and none of them trust China. It's barely even a thing.
nortex97
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Putin has nothing to say to Scholz:


Interesting/clever of the Russians to acquire/employ these systems.


I disagree with the below article, just because I don't think the Ukrainian economy is even a functioning one, but rather a group of around 22 million people subsisting largely on handouts, and a ruling class of aristocrats/wealthy who are profiting from the 'aid' and war otherwise.


LOL, this is actually from February but these folks are not wrong, and MSNBC of course is mad:
PlaneCrashGuy
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Ag with kids said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

Tswizsle said:

People still think uke can win this war? Lol


If any are brave enough to answer you, they'll just change the definition of win, or go on some long tangent about how much Russia lost. I doubt you'll get a response from a Uke though, Ukraine has been getting steadily pushed back for what feels like several months now - and Kursk hasn't changed anything.
Russia wanted ALL of Ukraine.

Russia will not get all of Ukraine.

The lines will end close to where they are.

That's a HUGE win for the Ukrainians.


Russia wanted all of Ukraine.

Ukraine wanted all of Ukraine (back).

Russia will end up with more Ukraine than it had when this started.

Ukraine will end up with less.

That is not a win, and you look foolish trying to pretend that it is.
I'm not sure if people genuinely believe someone is going to say, "Wow, if some people say I'm a moron for not believing this, it clearly must be true."

It's not much a persuasive argument. It really just sounds like a bunch of miniature dachshunds barking because the first one one barked when it thought it heard something.
PlaneCrashGuy
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No Spin Ag said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

No Spin Ag said:

Tswizsle said:

People still think uke can win this war? Lol


Putin failed to take over the entire country. That was the goal when Putin invaded. Putin hasn't achieved his initial objective. Ergo, Putin failed.

But it's good to know there are American Putin sycophants who are gleeful to see a country that did nothing to provoke Putin's invasion suffer because of him.

Putin's American sycophants must be so proud. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they even had a Russian flag and a Putin picture in their home.


The name calling is lame, and reeks of desperation.

I've still never heard a convincing reason for why we need to defend the most corrupt country in Europe.


Why should we defend any country? Let us step away from Israel and see how long they really last without our support.

If we're going to be truly insolationists, then let's go all the way. I'll sleep just fine knowing that at the end of the day we're not being hypocrites.


Your terms are acceptable.
I'm not sure if people genuinely believe someone is going to say, "Wow, if some people say I'm a moron for not believing this, it clearly must be true."

It's not much a persuasive argument. It really just sounds like a bunch of miniature dachshunds barking because the first one one barked when it thought it heard something.
Ags4DaWin
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Teslag said:

Quote:

Just because Russia didn't take out Kiev before we started rendering aid does not mean that Russia would not have been able to do so.....



That's exactly what it means. That's when Russia was at their strongest and they've been weaker ever since.


If Russia is weaker now than when the invasion initially began then why does Ukraine need our aid to defend itself against a weaker Russia?

You yourself said Russia is a paper tiger.
No Spin Ag
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PlaneCrashGuy said:

No Spin Ag said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

No Spin Ag said:

Tswizsle said:

People still think uke can win this war? Lol


Putin failed to take over the entire country. That was the goal when Putin invaded. Putin hasn't achieved his initial objective. Ergo, Putin failed.

But it's good to know there are American Putin sycophants who are gleeful to see a country that did nothing to provoke Putin's invasion suffer because of him.

Putin's American sycophants must be so proud. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they even had a Russian flag and a Putin picture in their home.


The name calling is lame, and reeks of desperation.

I've still never heard a convincing reason for why we need to defend the most corrupt country in Europe.


Why should we defend any country? Let us step away from Israel and see how long they really last without our support.

If we're going to be truly insolationists, then let's go all the way. I'll sleep just fine knowing that at the end of the day we're not being hypocrites.


Your terms are acceptable.
F*king love seeing posts like this.

There's no "well, but we need to save the Jews from the evil Muslims or to keep Big Oil going with as few interruptions as possible," and for that, mad respect.
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates
Teslag
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Ags4DaWin said:

Teslag said:

Quote:

Just because Russia didn't take out Kiev before we started rendering aid does not mean that Russia would not have been able to do so.....



That's exactly what it means. That's when Russia was at their strongest and they've been weaker ever since.


If Russia is weaker now than when the invasion initially began then why does Ukraine need our aid to defend itself against a weaker Russia?

You yourself said Russia is a paper tiger.


Because it's cheap and easy to do. We can harm Russia further with basically pennies on the dollar.
No Spin Ag
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Teslag said:

Ags4DaWin said:

Teslag said:

Quote:

Just because Russia didn't take out Kiev before we started rendering aid does not mean that Russia would not have been able to do so.....



That's exactly what it means. That's when Russia was at their strongest and they've been weaker ever since.


If Russia is weaker now than when the invasion initially began then why does Ukraine need our aid to defend itself against a weaker Russia?

You yourself said Russia is a paper tiger.


Because it's cheap and easy to do. We can harm Russia further with basically pennies on the dollar.
I remember a general saying it's taking so little of our money that nothing else that our money goes into is interrupted in the slightest. The pennies we're spending are causing Russia to lose tenfold and more, by comparison.

Worth every penny.
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates
nortex97
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YouBet
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I guess I'll be the hypocrite, but I have no desire for continued funding of Ukraine while I'm fine with us helping Israel...with caveats.

Caveats: any and all foreign aid should not be given until/unless we have funded domestic sovereign priorities first which means our own border and immigration policies. So neither country would get **** from me until this was done first. And the fact that this isn't done by default without having to negotiate it and politicize it means we have our own domestic enemies to worry about - Democrats.

Please spare me the inevitable "we can do both" argument. No, we can't because we aren't. And until we do then that argument is invalid.

Assuming above hurdle is cleared first...Ukraine was/is a corrupt, money laundering playground for competing global interests. It never remotely met the standards for NATO or EU acceptance because of this. It's too closely tied ethnically, culturally, and historically with Russia to ever rise above its own deficienices. Russia ideally wants to absorb them. If Ukraine splits or falls, it won't matter a few years from now. Ukrainians will trade one corrupt Rus for a different corrupt Rus. Russia can't/won't go any further west against a NATO country as everyone on here now agrees. They may then try to start taking some of the -Stan's. If they do, who cares. It would be an improvement if Russia took them, frankly. Life will go on as normal everywhere else.

Israel on the other hand is an established western country with an entire religion of 1.8B people who want them exterminated...not absorbed. Europe and the US have much more to lose with the fall of Israel than it ever will with Ukraine.

If Israel falls, then the Muslims become massively emboldened with their quest for world domination. With Israel out of the way, they can focus all attention on conquering the rest of Europe. They already are through mass migration, but they would have zero distractions if Israel was out of the way.

So, one enemy is a regional, rationally driven threat (Russia). The other enemy is driven to world domination through oppression, subjugation, and murder as required by their religion (Islam).

I also hold out a very small hope that we could eventually reconcile with Russia post-Putin considering our cultures are more closely aligned. We have a common enemy in the locust swarm that is Islam. We had an opportunity to do this post '91 and we squandered it in favor of the MIC. Probably not a more significant strategic blunder out there.


Ags4DaWin
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Teslag said:

Ags4DaWin said:

Teslag said:

Quote:

Just because Russia didn't take out Kiev before we started rendering aid does not mean that Russia would not have been able to do so.....



That's exactly what it means. That's when Russia was at their strongest and they've been weaker ever since.


If Russia is weaker now than when the invasion initially began then why does Ukraine need our aid to defend itself against a weaker Russia?

You yourself said Russia is a paper tiger.


Because it's cheap and easy to do. We can harm Russia further with basically pennies on the dollar.

Your claim is propped up by the following premises
1) We need to harm Russia.
You never expound on why we need to harm Russia.

2) 175 Billion dollars is pennies. It's not.

It's 25% of Medicare spending. 20% of our defense budget.

It's 5X FEMA's annual budget.

I am sure all the Hawaiins, North Carolinans and Floridians are comforted to know that the US and you care more about fighting and killing Russians than helping Americans.

Personally I think anyone with a defense contractor or contractor adjacent job who is a Uke and Zelensky fan boy here or on the news pushing these sorts of horrible policies should be have to be up front about it so we can be aware of the obvious conflict of interest.

But hey.....transparency has never been a priority of neocons.
Ags4DaWin
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175 billion bucks is 20% of the ENTIRE defense budget.

Your quote by the general claims that 175 billion dollars is s little that it would not even be missed because they have that kind of money just lying around.

If the defense department is not using 20% of its own budget the budget should be slashed.

Thanks! You just provided a great argument for reducing the defense budget.
nortex97
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The monetary cost is a pittance, compared to the human one.
Teslag
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nortex97 said:

The monetary cost is a pittance, compared to the human one.


The human one falls at the feet of one person alone. He can end this any time he chooses.
Teslag
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Ags4DaWin said:

175 billion bucks is 20% of the ENTIRE defense budget.

Your quote by the general claims that 175 billion dollars is s little that it would not even be missed because they have that kind of money just lying around.

If the defense department is not using 20% of its own budget the budget should be slashed.

Thanks! You just provided a great argument for reducing the defense budget.


We spent $175 billion, in new cash outlays, in one fiscal year?


Please just answer yes or no.
No Spin Ag
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Ags4DaWin said:

175 billion bucks is 20% of the ENTIRE defense budget.

Your quote by the general claims that 175 billion dollars is s little that it would not even be missed because they have that kind of money just lying around.

If the defense department is not using 20% of its own budget the budget should be slashed.

Thanks! You just provided a great argument for reducing the defense budget.
Any good liberal would want the defense budget slashed.

You sound like you have more in common with libs than you know.
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates
GAC06
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Ags4DaWin said:

175 billion bucks is 20% of the ENTIRE defense budget.

Your quote by the general claims that 175 billion dollars is s little that it would not even be missed because they have that kind of money just lying around.

If the defense department is not using 20% of its own budget the budget should be slashed.

Thanks! You just provided a great argument for reducing the defense budget.


First of all, we're two and a half years into Russia's latest invasion. Second, a good chunk of that number is book values of surplus equipment that was of little to no value to us except as wartime reserve in the event of war with Russia, which is what it's going towards.
J. Walter Weatherman
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Teslag said:

nortex97 said:

The monetary cost is a pittance, compared to the human one.


The human one falls at the feet of one person alone. He can end this any time he chooses.


The amount of cognitive dissonance it takes to claim to care about the human cost of the war while refusing to ever place any blame on the one person who started it is pretty amazing.
nortex97
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AtticusMatlock said:

BRICS is a loose economic partnership of countries, some of whom hate each other, and none of them trust China. It's barely even a thing.
De-dollarization is a real thing and the impact of the alliance net is to grow China's power in trade, and other areas of development and military alignment over time (belt and road etc). BRICS+ is going to be a growing portion of world GDP, even if today 'only' 28 percent.

The members aren't of course aligned on all issues, and even Russia is fairly pragmatic in its economic/political trade goals. Personally, I think it would be great if our policies toward islamic immigration were more aligned with/similar to Russia's, and we had more levers to convince Putin to pull away from/not support Iran. Their impact on America is a lot greater than whoever is running the Donbas/Donetsk, to me, but whatever.



Our real threat is not Russia.



And whatever one thinks of the $175 billion (or whatever) we have spent on this war that has decimated Ukraine as a nation state/population run by a corrupt autocratic government, my next fiscal fear is that the neocons and democrats as well as Blackrock etc. envision a multi-trillion dollar "Marshal plan" in a postwar world after declaring the whole fiasco was a 'great success.'
Teslag
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J. Walter Weatherman said:

Teslag said:

nortex97 said:

The monetary cost is a pittance, compared to the human one.


The human one falls at the feet of one person alone. He can end this any time he chooses.


The amount of cognitive dissonance it takes to claim to care about the human cost of the war while refusing to ever place any blame on the one person who started it is pretty amazing.
PlaneCrashGuy
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[If you're just going to troll, then take a break -- Staff]
OPAG
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YouBet said:

I guess I'll be the hypocrite, but I have no desire for continued funding of Ukraine while I'm fine with us helping Israel...with caveats.

Caveats: any and all foreign aid should not be given until/unless we have funded domestic sovereign priorities first which means our own border and immigration policies. So neither country would get **** from me until this was done first. And the fact that this isn't done by default without having to negotiate it and politicize it means we have our own domestic enemies to worry about - Democrats.

Please spare me the inevitable "we can do both" argument. No, we can't because we aren't. And until we do then that argument is invalid.

Assuming above hurdle is cleared first...Ukraine was/is a corrupt, money laundering playground for competing global interests. It never remotely met the standards for NATO or EU acceptance because of this. It's too closely tied ethnically, culturally, and historically with Russia to ever rise above its own deficienices. Russia ideally wants to absorb them. If Ukraine splits or falls, it won't matter a few years from now. Ukrainians will trade one corrupt Rus for a different corrupt Rus. Russia can't/won't go any further west against a NATO country as everyone on here now agrees. They may then try to start taking some of the -Stan's. If they do, who cares. It would be an improvement if Russia took them, frankly. Life will go on as normal everywhere else.

Israel on the other hand is an established western country with an entire religion of 1.8B people who want them exterminated...not absorbed. Europe and the US have much more to lose with the fall of Israel than it ever will with Ukraine.

If Israel falls, then the Muslims become massively emboldened with their quest for world domination. With Israel out of the way, they can focus all attention on conquering the rest of Europe. They already are through mass migration, but they would have zero distractions if Israel was out of the way.

So, one enemy is a regional, rationally driven threat (Russia). The other enemy is driven to world domination through oppression, subjugation, and murder as required by their religion (Islam).

I also hold out a very small hope that we could eventually reconcile with Russia post-Putin considering our cultures are more closely aligned. We have a common enemy in the locust swarm that is Islam. We had an opportunity to do this post '91 and we squandered it in favor of the MIC. Probably not a more significant strategic blunder out there.



Spot on truth.
"only one thing is important!"
Ag with kids
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PlaneCrashGuy said:

Ag with kids said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

Tswizsle said:

People still think uke can win this war? Lol


If any are brave enough to answer you, they'll just change the definition of win, or go on some long tangent about how much Russia lost. I doubt you'll get a response from a Uke though, Ukraine has been getting steadily pushed back for what feels like several months now - and Kursk hasn't changed anything.
Russia wanted ALL of Ukraine.

Russia will not get all of Ukraine.

The lines will end close to where they are.

That's a HUGE win for the Ukrainians.


Russia wanted all of Ukraine.

Ukraine wanted all of Ukraine (back).

Russia will end up with more Ukraine than it had when this started.

Ukraine will end up with less.

That is not a win, and you look foolish trying to pretend that it is.

After Ukraine was invaded by Putin, anything better than Ukraine being completely annexed by Russia is a win.

When the invasion started, everyone expected it to be over within weeks.

PUTIN expected it to be over in weeks.

It is not over.

Ukraine will not be part of Russia, even if some territory will be.

THAT is a win for Ukraine.

They are fighting over the details right now. Russia is losing lots of men and materiel to gain small chunks of land. Ukraine is losing far fewer men and materiel to defend it. And during that, Russia has now lost land.
You can turn off signatures, btw
Ag with kids
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Ags4DaWin said:

Teslag said:

Quote:

Just because Russia didn't take out Kiev before we started rendering aid does not mean that Russia would not have been able to do so.....



That's exactly what it means. That's when Russia was at their strongest and they've been weaker ever since.


If Russia is weaker now than when the invasion initially began then why does Ukraine need our aid to defend itself against a weaker Russia?


You yourself said Russia is a paper tiger.
Because Russia was stronger than UKRAINE by a significant amount.

And without aid, Ukraine would not have been able to continue to defend themselves.

The aid being given is degrading the strength of Russia.

These are not mutually exclusive things.
You can turn off signatures, btw
Ag with kids
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No Spin Ag said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

No Spin Ag said:

PlaneCrashGuy said:

No Spin Ag said:

Tswizsle said:

People still think uke can win this war? Lol


Putin failed to take over the entire country. That was the goal when Putin invaded. Putin hasn't achieved his initial objective. Ergo, Putin failed.

But it's good to know there are American Putin sycophants who are gleeful to see a country that did nothing to provoke Putin's invasion suffer because of him.

Putin's American sycophants must be so proud. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they even had a Russian flag and a Putin picture in their home.


The name calling is lame, and reeks of desperation.

I've still never heard a convincing reason for why we need to defend the most corrupt country in Europe.


Why should we defend any country? Let us step away from Israel and see how long they really last without our support.

If we're going to be truly insolationists, then let's go all the way. I'll sleep just fine knowing that at the end of the day we're not being hypocrites.


Your terms are acceptable.
F*king love seeing posts like this.

There's no "well, but we need to save the Jews from the evil Muslims or to keep Big Oil going with as few interruptions as possible," and for that, mad respect.
FWIW, he's a Russian fanboi. So, he also has that, too...
You can turn off signatures, btw
Ag with kids
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YouBet said:

I guess I'll be the hypocrite, but I have no desire for continued funding of Ukraine while I'm fine with us helping Israel...with caveats.

Caveats: any and all foreign aid should not be given until/unless we have funded domestic sovereign priorities first which means our own border and immigration policies. So neither country would get **** from me until this was done first. And the fact that this isn't done by default without having to negotiate it and politicize it means we have our own domestic enemies to worry about - Democrats.

Please spare me the inevitable "we can do both" argument. No, we can't because we aren't. And until we do then that argument is invalid.

Assuming above hurdle is cleared first...Ukraine was/is a corrupt, money laundering playground for competing global interests. It never remotely met the standards for NATO or EU acceptance because of this. It's too closely tied ethnically, culturally, and historically with Russia to ever rise above its own deficienices. Russia ideally wants to absorb them. If Ukraine splits or falls, it won't matter a few years from now. Ukrainians will trade one corrupt Rus for a different corrupt Rus. Russia can't/won't go any further west against a NATO country as everyone on here now agrees. They may then try to start taking some of the -Stan's. If they do, who cares. It would be an improvement if Russia took them, frankly. Life will go on as normal everywhere else.

Israel on the other hand is an established western country with an entire religion of 1.8B people who want them exterminated...not absorbed. Europe and the US have much more to lose with the fall of Israel than it ever will with Ukraine.

If Israel falls, then the Muslims become massively emboldened with their quest for world domination. With Israel out of the way, they can focus all attention on conquering the rest of Europe. They already are through mass migration, but they would have zero distractions if Israel was out of the way.

So, one enemy is a regional, rationally driven threat (Russia). The other enemy is driven to world domination through oppression, subjugation, and murder as required by their religion (Islam).

I also hold out a very small hope that we could eventually reconcile with Russia post-Putin considering our cultures are more closely aligned. We have a common enemy in the locust swarm that is Islam. We had an opportunity to do this post '91 and we squandered it in favor of the MIC. Probably not a more significant strategic blunder out there.



I agree with this.

BTW, post 1991 we had the "Peace Dividend" and flatlined the DoD spending until 9/11 occurred.
You can turn off signatures, btw
Ag with kids
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nortex97 said:

LOL, this is actually from February but these folks are not wrong, and MSNBC of course is mad:

I thought you'd be taller.
You can turn off signatures, btw
nortex97
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As long as the Russians are winning in Ukraine we are under much less imminent threat of WW3/an expanded combat risk for our forces being entered into the theater, contra what our 'friends' in Kiev wish for. I've explained this many times as my viewpoint but just want to put that out there again. And there are definitely those within the US Government who want that to happen.


I don't know where the lines will be, but would be surprised down the road if they stop short of Odessa:


LOL, so now we are shipping coal from WV/KY to Kiev too? That sounds…efficient.
YouBet
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Sounds like the perfect opportunity for Ukraine to switch to solar and wind power. That would probably accelerate their NATO bid too.
nortex97
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That's blackrock's plan, but they want us to pay for it (and to do so by buying Chinese wind turbines/solar panels).
Teslag
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Odessa is 100 miles from the front by land, on the other side of Kherson where the Ukrainians are heavily entrenched. The Russians have spent a year and hundreds of thousands of lives to move a fraction of that distance in one tiny area of the north.

Russia has as much chance of taking Odessa as they do Kiev and there's an even less chance that Ukraine gives up any land the Russians don't and can't control.
nortex97
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Sad.



5, 10, and 20 km at a time.


Teslag
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Quote:

If Joe Biden and Boris Johnson didn't prevent the peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia in 2022 over a million Ukrainians would still be alive.


And they'd be de facto Russian citizens under that "plan".

I'd rather die. And so would they, which is why they fight the way they do. Once upon a time we valued a fight against subjugation.
MJ20/20
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Kursk ended up just as it appeared at the time, a classic rope a dope.
Tswizsle
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Uke can't sustain this much attrition matter of time before Russia ends this
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