Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Obi-Jon]

Russia has announced the Moscow (stock) Exchange will remain closed for the rest of the week. ATMs are running out of near worthless rubles. Film at 11.

[froot loops]

I'm not sure which schism you are referring to.

What is the schism of 2018?

You are correct if the schism related to Luther is the Rome/Constantinople split which gave rise to the Roman church and the Eastern church. I should have been more accurate in saying the Roman Catholic Church when I said Catholic.

The Russian Orthodox church split with Constantinople in 2018. In simple terms, it was in response to the Eastern Orthodox church planning to let the Ukrainian church split off from the Russian Orthodox church. Putin's rhetoric talks about this a lot.

[Tom W]

Then why do the Green parties in the West, including the Green Party USA, uniformly oppose nuclear power? One answer is that nuclear power is dangerous. Then why do these parties also believe dams should be removed? I'm trying not to be overly dogmatic, but I have to believe that the reason the Greens oppose both nuclear and hydroelectric power is that both are substantially cheaper to produce than wind and solar. If you want to "reorder" society, one thing you have to control is energy. IMO there is an alliance between the Green Woke Overlords and the wind and solar industries.

Or, maybe they REALLY believe the fantasy stories that they've been absorbing all of their lives - full of dragons, fairies, unicorns and wizards that produce virtually unlimited energy from a handful of crystals.

[Obi-Jon]

Ukraine has applied for EU membership. Preparing to tell Russia we won't apply for NATO membership (not needed) and here's your face saving exit ramp?


https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/10835...european-union

https://www.barrons.com/articles/ukraines-application-for-eu-membership-will-be-debated-official-says-51646079906


And here's the Chechen leader issuing an ultimatum to Europe to withdraw threatening sanction statements by February 31st....

https://twitter.com/rianru/status/1498095033559437321

[Dr. Strangelove]

Russia has announced the Moscow (stock) Exchange will remain closed for the rest of the week. ATMs are running out of near worthless rubles. Film at 11.

Damn

Sberbank is one of the largest banks in Russia and has the misfortune to be listed on the FTSE in London and therefore got no protection. The stock fell over 70% today and they had to close branches all over Europe after they ran out of cash. Several subsidiaries of the bank in Europe may fail.

Russian bank Sberbank faces ‘failure’ in Europe (nypost.com)

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jon, no off ramp for Putin. He's not going to withdraw. Way too much at stake right now for him to leave Ukraine. I'll reiterate, people can do all the hoping for some kind of negotiated settlement they might wish for. Fantasy. Not happening.

NATO nation leaders can't afford to dwell in that kind of hopeful fantasy world. They need to start war preparation with the goal of denying Russia it's ability to achieve it's stated goals through military action. NATO can do this by rendering Russian forces on the ground incapable of continuing to conduct the operations already underway. Prep needs to start now and and on the fast track. The longer NATO waits to engage Russian forces in Ukraine, the higher the cost. People can hope. The leadership needs to act.

I can guarantee you that among the NATO (and UKs) leadership's military, intelligence and national security staff, military options are being discussed and drafted for presentation to presidents and prime ministers with consequences or probabilities describing Putin's response to NATO engagement inside Ukraine should it be undertaken. IMO, Ukraine will fall. Leading up to that, cities will be pummeled - ground to dust - infrastructure destroyed. The humanitarian cost will be horrendous.

'm OK with a week of NATO preparations - made so obvious to Putin that he needs to start recalculating - to see how the sanctions work but I'm not optimistic. These are only going to harden Putin and steel his spine.

Hurry the fuck up.

[Obi-Jon]

Yeah, unlikely hope. I don’t know if NATO will act. Europe will bear the brunt of low yield nukes if Vlad the Unstable goes that route.

I would hope that Ukrainian pilots have been training for the last month with NATO. Re-livery A-10s and turn the Ukrainians loose.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I've been occupied researching, reading and trying to pass on useful information on Putin's Invasion of Ukraine. Beyond that headline grabbing event, there's been some developments with the pandemic. Say what you will about the CDC and I'm no fan for a lot of justifiable reasons but they've come up with a grid to help community leaders decide on what kinds of mitigation measures are appropriate for given COVID related circumstance. The grid is also useful for assessing your onw risk and what personal mitigation measures you may wish to take in a given circumstance.

The grid provides the criteria and explains the calculation for assigning a high, medium or low risk level by county. It's about as granular as you can get. It goes on to provide links to see what the CDC mitigation and behavior recommendations are for any combination of objectifiable metrics.

I've been calling along with others for an objective based methodology to evaluate your own risks for serious illness and take mitigation measures or precautions accordingly. This grid and the instructions on how to use and interpret it along with recommended individual steps does exactly that. It's typically cumbersome, IMO, as most guidance the CDC has issued over the last 2+ years is. But it leaves it up to you to decide what to do and I have to give credit where it's due to the CDC. The CDC is historically, relative to the pandemic, an overly paternalistic acting agency so, this is a major stepping away from that paternalism.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html

[Hannibal]

Or, maybe they REALLY believe the fantasy stories that they've been absorbing all of their lives - full of dragons, fairies, unicorns and wizards that produce virtually unlimited energy from a handful of crystals.

This is pretty close to reality.

[Mike]

Re: Jeff's post above Hanni's: And just in time for the SOTU address!

[Obi-Jon]

Here's a Ukrainian farmer using his tractor to steal a Russian APC that ran out of gas.

https://youtu.be/CvsfKRmjOHs

Translation:

Part1: This is a f*cking hit! Gosh! They stole the damn thing [Laughing]. Wow!

Part2: Our people are pulling an armored personnel carrier, damn it! To the house, to the yard... F*cking! The thing will be out of price. [Laughing]. Did you see that? [Laughing]. How the f*ck did they do it? [Laughing]. It's a good thing to go to the forest for firewood [Laughing].

[Mike]

Ukraine uses a Turkish-made drone to take out two Russian missile launchers. Takes about 30 seconds for them to cook off.

LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY HAS A CASE OF THE MONDAYS!

[Mike]

Here's a Ukrainian farmer using his tractor to steal a Russian APC that ran out of gas.

https://youtu.be/CvsfKRmjOHs

Translation:

Part1: This is a f*cking hit! Gosh! They stole the damn thing [Laughing]. Wow!

Part2: Our people are pulling an armored personnel carrier, damn it! To the house, to the yard... F*cking! The thing will be out of price. [Laughing]. Did you see that? [Laughing]. How the f*ck did they do it? [Laughing]. It's a good thing to go to the forest for firewood [Laughing].

I'm buying Ukrainians drinks from here on out.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff, is this you?

FMuJbOyXoA4IGid?format=jpg&name=small.jpg

[Mike]

Is that guy Ukrainian? Because he has a wonderful sense of humor.