Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Not even China, eh?

Tough crowd.

China, India, and Pakistan are the big names among the abstainers. Mostly a bunch of scattered Asian and African countries. Don't think a single European country abstained and only the most far leftist Latin American ones did.

The Taliban voted to condemn Russia, lol

[Da Geezer]

Evil men always believe everyone else is as awful as they are. It's how they self-justify their evil acts. "I'm only doing what he wanted to do to me"

Psychologically speaking it's called projection and oh lordy are you ever full of it.

Thanks for the psychoanalysis. What does your Woke Brigade believe about the nature of man? Do you figure that some guys like yourself are good and others like me are bad? Or is that just virtue-signaling and trashing your opponents?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Russian Defense Ministry has just released casualty numbers, to be taken with a grain of salt. 500 dead and 1500 wounded on the Russian side. 4000 Ukrainians killed.

Figure a 4x propaganda factor. Actual numbers are closer to 2000 Russians and 1000 Ukrainians dead.

Can't imagine Russia releasing any numbers unless a lot of body bags are coming home and people are talking about it despite what State TV is saying.

I saw that too and you're right. They wouldn't even release numbers unless in reality they were high enough to be making an impact on the home front.

[Hannibal]

What does your Woke Brigade believe about the nature of man ?

Non-white >> White

Women >> Men

[Hannibal]

I saw that too and you're right. They wouldn't even release numbers unless in reality they were high enough to be making an impact on the home front.

TBF Ukraine media has had a few whoppers get exposed since this whole show started, and maybe more will be revealed in years to come.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Geezer, a couple of things:

I'm no longer advocating for NATO military engagement in Ukraine. The window to do that has closed, IMO. It could have had a devastating effect on lines of logistics material and fighting men and equipment out in the open and vulnerable. By now, the Russians have likely either dispersed these columns or protected them with air defense weaponry. I trust that NATO had the intel it needs to decide not to intervene with an air attack. Good idea, missed opportunity maybe but at this point unlikely to have the intended impact.

Here's President Duda's answer to a question posed to him by the press at the news conference in Poland yesterday:

President of Poland Andrzej Duda: Gentlemen, as Secretary General has now said, we are not sending any jets to Ukraine because that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We are not joining that conflict. NATO is not a party to that conflict. However as I said, we are supporting Ukrainians with humanity aid. However, we are not going to send any jets to the Ukrainian airspace.

I don't know what the thinking is here. An escalation that NATO wants to avoid? I'd be repainting the aircraft that would be sent with Ukrainian markings. Soviet era aircraft were notoriously designed to be able to easily disassemble them, put the parts in crates, load them on aircraft, deliver them to remote airfields and reassemble them. That may be happening. Remember Lukashenko continues to insist Belarussian troops will not join Russian troops in Ukraine. OK.

[Dr. Strangelove]

TBF Ukraine media has had a few whoppers get exposed since this whole show started, and maybe more will be revealed in years to come.

Yeah, and I don't necessarily trust their number either. Just that I suspect it's closer to the truth than Russia having an 8 to 1 kill ratio.

You can see from videos they abandon their dead all over the place...quite possible they genuinely don't even know.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Can't get around the paywall but the WSJ found a lot of evidence in Belarus that wounded Russians are secretly being sent there. Says at least seven hospitals in the area have been treating them.

Russia Evacuates Wounded Soldiers to Belarus as Its Casualties in Ukraine War Rise - WSJ

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just found at the NATO web site and listened to the video of the news conference from yesterday during which I quoted President Duda above. Judging from the interchanges between reporters, General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General and President Duda of Poland, both made it clear that NATO is not involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. I'm not surprised by this political positioning of NATO. Stoltenberg also made it clear that NATO is a defensive organization by the nature of its charter. He added that while we are defensive in nature, we will defend every inch of territory of our NATO members (implied, of which Ukraine is not one).

While I may have liked a NATO led air attack v. Russian forces, given Putin's well established behaviors over his 20+ years as President of Russia, I suspect the calculation was that a NATO escalation in the form of an air campaign over head a non-NATO member state would have prompted unwanted retaliation and propagandization of the move favorable to Russia. There's enough activity out there from the UN and war crimes bodies to publicly pressure and shame Putin and Russia. Sanctions will add to that. I'm not disposed to the view that he'll change his behavior vis-a-vis his military objectives in Ukraine.

So, beyond the personal satisfaction I would have gotten from seeing dead Russians strewn on the roadside and intermingled with destroyed Russian military hardware, NATO would have a lot to lose by intervening in that way. NATO and the west now hold the geopolitical, moral and ethical upper hand - and my view has nothing to do with the potential for a nuclear exchange. You have to understand that nuclear and conventional warfare operate within discrete frameworks pertinent to each.

I remain skeptical at the micro level that any of that will stop the killing and destruction but I'm not sure a NATO air campaign overhead Ukraine would have achieved more military leverage than the Ukrainian resistance is already providing at future negotiating tables. That goes without saying that at the macro level Putin has to calculate the costs of another Afghanistan - a long drawn out, potentially unwinnable urban campaign - along with those that the sanctions will bring to the country he leads. He may conclude that trying to advance his greater Russia strategy and all that implies isn't sustainable nor is a resurrection of the USSR, which would include bringing the former USSR satellite states, back to mother Russia achievable. NATO stands solidly in the way of that and Putin has miscalulated if he thought it wouldn't.

[AlabamAlum]

1. The Allman Bros song “Blue Sky” was written as a love letter by Dickey Betts to his Native Canadian girlfriend (and later wife) Sandy “Bluesky” Wabegijig.

1. Speaking of classic rock from the 70’s, it is an absolute travesty that Joe Cocker isn’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Sure most of his big hits were covers, but his unique voice and performances deserves a nomination.

1. The mess in Ukraine could be solved by getting Putin in a handshake line with Juwan Howard.

1. Speaking of history, the saying “paint the town red” came from the Marquess of Waterford who painted a statue, doors, and a tollgate red (and other assorted acts of vandalism) after a night of drunkenness.

1. Bluetooth’s name and the icon represented from it originate with the 10th century Danish king, Harald Bluetooth.

1. Talent can suck the dimples off a golf ball.

1. Speaking of, DSL’s nickname is “golf ball.

That is all.

[iam416]

WooooOOT!!!!! The Irish Fuck is back!

[CGVT]

1. Speaking of classic rock from the 70’s, it is an absolute travesty that Joe Cocker isn’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Sure most of his big hits were covers, but his unique voice and performances deserves a nomination.

[LIST=1]
.

Agree. Add Warren Zevon to the "travesty" list

[Hannibal]

WooooOOT!!!!! The Irish Fuck is back!

I thought he was Scottish?

Or is that your way of insulting him?

[THE_WIZARD_]

It is alive....

[iam416]

Any normal person would consider being called Scotish a dueling offense slight. However, for actual Scots imbeciles you have to dig deeper to find the appropriate dueling glove insult. Poltroon also works, but Irish subsumes poltroon and essentially every other deleterious trait known to man.