Ukraine updates

[mchammer]

 

[Monahorns]

Economics professors are experts at analyzing incentives and tradeoffs. If you do that it is clear who most likely bombed the pipelines.

 

[Musburger1]

Amazon product ASIN 0275924106

 

[Mr. Deez]

What the hell's going on here? Why is this is of such great importance to an American teachers union president? Does she care about Ukraine? I don't know or care. Lots of people care, but they're not showing up to a war zone. I can't help but assume she has an agenda in going.

 

[iatrogenic]

What the hell's going on here? Why is this is of such great importance to an American teachers union president? Does she care about Ukraine? I don't know or care. Lots of people care, but they're not showing up to a war zone. I can't help but assume she has an agenda in going.

Narcissism, pure and simple. She will accomplish nothing more than “look at me” social media posts.

 

[Mr. Deez]

Narcissism, pure and simple. She will accomplish nothing more than “look at me” social media posts.

Maybe, but you can virtue signal and say "look at me" without showing up. Millions do it everyday with their little Ukrainian flags - sorta like the people with the AIDS ribbons on Seinfeld.

If she's actually showing up and going to that much trouble (and frankly, risking her life), I suspect something slimy is at play. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe she's there to bully Zelenskyy into promising to let Ukrainian teachers unionize after the war, or she'll get Biden to withhold aid. Maybe something else, but I doubt that some nefarious purpose isn't involved.

 

[iatrogenic]

She may be "pulling a Hunter" by saying she has the President's ear, and then asking for a payoff.

 

[Mr. Deez]

She may be "pulling a Hunter" by saying she has the President's ear, and then asking for a payoff.

Hey, it worked for Hunter. And she's got Biden by the balls.

 

[Monahorns]

If she's actually showing up and going to that much trouble (and frankly, risking her life), I suspect something slimy is at play. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe she's there to bully Zelenskyy into promising to let Ukrainian teachers unionize after the war, or she'll get Biden to withhold aid. Maybe something else, but I doubt that some nefarious purpose isn't involved.

It is all very surprising in one sense. Why the constant stream of politicians or celebrities to Ukraine or media ops for Zelensky because we haven't seen it before.

In another sense it is very unsurprising. The Ukrainian regime in power was set up by VP Biden and his employees in 2014-2015. His son was receiving million dollar kick backs by oil execs in order to ingratiate themselves to the family. Now Biden is President.

 

[mchammer]

 

[Monahorns]

Ukraine isn't or shouldn't be worth enough to Americans to fight a nuclear war over. That very few in power see that shows why the US is in such bad shape overall.

 

[mchammer]

 

[mchammer]

 

[mchammer]

Periodic reminder that the Ukraine is the poorest and most corrupt European country (of significant size). Can someone explain to me why a Russian-backed government wouldn’t be an improvement over what they got now?

 

[Monahorns]

Periodic reminder that the Ukraine is the poorest and most corrupt European country (of significant size). Can someone explain to me why a Russian-backed government wouldn’t be an improvement over what they got now?

Watch out the US government is going to label you a Putin supporter.

 

[mchammer]

 

[Monahorns]

David Sacks has come out of the woodwork this week. He has made some good points that those who care about justice and peace need to pay attention to.

 

[mchammer]

Ukraine supporters are acting like the Slavic version of the PLO. They now carry out suicide bombings of domestic targets.

 

[mchammer]

What the **** is a suicide drone? In non-Orwellian terms it’s called a guided bomb.


Russia hits Ukraine with another deadly wave of "suicide drones" - CBS News

 

[mchammer]

Watch out the US government is going to label you a Putin supporter.

The only valid argument against Putin is anti-imperialism. Putin is not a fascist and not pursuing genocide. So many brain dead folks on Twitter.

Anyway, as you can see from my post above, I am not reflexively anti-imperialist. Rome for example improved the world. British empire too. Yes, they are not perfect and they should have a duration date. In any event, it’s not worth flirting nuclear war.

 

[Horn2RunAgain]

Megan Kelly's Monday podcast had David Sacks and Dave Friedberg as guests. Maybe the best explanation of the damage this war has brought on us and other nations. By leveling the sanctions on Russia when the war started, a lot of funding for retirement of people all over the world vanished. Not much media attention given to that.

If you just want to hear that part of the podcast fast fwd to minute 45 for about 3 minutes. But the whole segment is interesting

 

[huisache]

Periodic reminder that the Ukraine is the poorest and most corrupt European country (of significant size). Can someone explain to me why a Russian-backed government wouldn’t be an improvement over what they got now?

The Ukrainians don’t seem to be enthusiasts for a Russian government, regardless as to whether it would be an improvement. Most people would rather be poorly governed by their own kind than by those they perceive to be foreigners. I don’t care for the present government in Austin but would prefer it to those dicks from DC

 

[huisache]

I have been thinking about this war as somewhat analogous to our civil war. One side is several times more numerous than the other and has greater industrial strength. But the smaller foe is fighting a defensive war in its own territory and seems to be strong enough so far to avoid defeat

Putin is following the Lincoln/Grant strategy—-a war of attrition. With bolstered oil prices Putin can afford to just burn Atlanta all he pleases. He doesn’t have all those Irish and German cannon fodder but Russian kids can make good soldiers. As Hitler and Napoleon learned

I am hesitant to push this analogy too far lest some poster points out that the Ukraine flag has no stars and bars or whatever but a war of attrition is a tough one to win even if the US is arming you and willing to fight to the last Ukrainian

 

[mchammer]

The Ukrainians don’t seem to be enthusiasts for a Russian government, regardless as to whether it would be an improvement. Most people would rather be poorly governed by their own kind than by those they perceive to be foreigners. I don’t care for the present government in Austin but would prefer it to those dicks from DC

Worth risking a nuclear war?

 

[Monahorns]

The Ukrainians don’t seem to be enthusiasts for a Russian government, regardless as to whether it would be an improvement. Most people would rather be poorly governed by their own kind than by those they perceive to be foreigners. I don’t care for the present government in Austin but would prefer it to those dicks from DC

Yes, totally agree. But it isn't clear that the people of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea want to be ruled by Kyiv. Those people are more Russian in culture and have been killed by Ukrainian militias for about 8 years now.

 

[Monahorns]

Worth risking a nuclear war?

It shouldn't be from the American perspective. It would make sense that it is for some Ukrainians.

 

[mchammer]

 

[Monahorns]

mchammer, they claim to not be Nazis anymore but then they still sing the songs and use the symbols of Nazis, so it is hard to believe them. Also, these are the guys who terrorized Russian speaking Ukrainians including 1000s of deaths starting in 2014.

 

[Chop]

Iran sent troops to Ukraine to help Russia use Iranian-made drones

Russia is really hard up for decent military equipment and operators.

They're relying on Iran to bail them out. Now apparently, some of Iran's new long range missiles are nothing to sneeze at, and their drones must be pretty good, but c'mon. Has Russia really declined to the level where they're militarily inferior to Iran--man for man, unit for unit, etc.??? This is pathetic.

This would be like if we were at war and our drones and other equipment was performing very poorly, so we begged Mexico or Argentina for some of their superior equipment and operators.

 

[Chop]

Russian youth dodge the draft:
(we'll see how popular this unnecessary war remains in Russia)

Russians Use Drastic Measures To Avoid Putin’s Military Draft—Including Self-Mutilation

An estimated 400,000 Russians have fled to nearby countries like Kazakhstan, Georgia, Mongolia—as well as the European Union and countries further afield like Turkey—since the draft was announced in late September, according to Bloomberg, an exodus that has prompted several neighboring states to restrict Russians entering on tourist visas.

Those unable or unwilling to leave Russia have sometimes resorted to drastic means to evade the draft by other, usually medical, means, and Russian search terms like “how to break an arm,” “how to break an arm at home” or “how to break a leg” spiked on Google (which is still used by millions in Russia) in the days after the draft was announced, suggesting more interest in the topic than usual.

Gruesome videos of men allegedly breaking their arms or legs in a desperate bid to avoid being drafted have reportedly cropped up online, including footage showing men taking sledgehammers to a friend’s limb.