Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

[klondike]

Why is everybody always pickin' on me.. funny, when it comes to abortion, only the women matters.. it's her body but when a guy tries to help out and finance it, he still gets the pooch. Just give them up

[Jeff Buchanan]

The Mullahs in Iran are having a hard time subduing protesters in several major cities there. Of course, according to Koran, the benevolent and peaceful spread of Islam is on display in that shit-hole of a country.

ISW began reporting on the Iran Crisis a couple of weeks ago. I would glance at them but focused on Ukrainian reports. The protesting over a young woman arrested for not wearing a Hijab and subsequently beaten to death by the Morality Police (yes, there is such a thing) has spread country wide. Reports indicate over 200 protestors have been killed along with 25 police. At first, protesters were disbursed with non-lethal means. When that didn't work, the police started firing live rounds into the protesting crowds. That has enraged youth group organizers.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-crisis-update-october-14

[klondike]

Haven't we been down that road before with Iran. I remember 1980 and the hostage crises. There were young people partying in a club
women in mini-skirts and having a good time. That took a bad turn and all the supposed liberal factions caved very quickly to the theocracy of the most strigent possible. So many can be led and cohersed by so few..

[Dr. Strangelove]

Well the liberal factions didn’t cave so much as they were killed off or imprisoned over time

[lineygoblue]

d5c5b50b-ffc5-4350-9bf2-e239f231773a-2022-1015-mo-Harris723.JPG?crop=4166,2343,x0,y135&width=660&height=372&format=pjpg&auto=webp.jpg

Yes! Michigan voters would actually re-elect both of you!!

[THE_WIZARD_]

Well Michiganders aren't exactly the brightest bulb on the tree...

[lineygoblue]

Its what the voters here do, Wiz. Lots of good people live here, but there are too many times when they are outvoted by the nimrods of SE Michigan.

[Dr. Strangelove]

it’s certainly no secret and I try not to talk about this shitstain as much as in the past but I truly do despise this colossal fuckstick.

[foxhopper]

Always so hard for me to believe the dumbass doesn't drink.

[Jeff Buchanan]

On Monday NATO began its annual nuclear drills, Steadfast Noon. The exercises, hosted by Belgium and postponed from earlier this year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, include 14 of the alliance’s 30 members. There will be no live warheads, but the manoeuvres include jets that can carry nuclear bombs. NATO’ has called the operation “routine training” designed to keep the deterrent “safe, secure and effective”.

The ongoing war in Ukraine means that the drills won't be business as usual given the backdrop of nuclear threats from Putin and will be far from business as usual. The head of GCHQ, Britain’s spy agency, has said that there were no signs of an imminent attack. Escalation and miscalculation fears, however, are real. NATO expects that Russia will soon hold its own routine nuclear exercise, dubbed Grom.

NATO is betting that conducting nuclear drills helps keep its deterrent potent. NATO's stance remains that to counter the possibility of nuclear escalation by Russia firm and convincing signals about NATO's nuclear capabilities and willingness to respond appropriately to any use or threat of use of nukes in Ukraine by Putin.

[iam416]

The Chairman eating ice cream in Portland saying the economy is strong as hell is just fantastic. The only it could be better is if he wearing his aviators and fisting bumping Mohammed bin Salaam.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...

[Jeff Buchanan]

ISW just published an interesting, and sobering, report on what Ukraine has to do in the battle space to survive. Its survival requires recapture of most Ukrainian territory seized by Russia so that it can return to economic viability and not be a ward of western alliance states. The return of Crimea to Ukrainian control is both key to Ukrainian control of the Black Sea coast line and to secure NATO's S flank. Anything less gives Putin the ability to stage further aggression from strategic vantage points at a future point of his choosing targeting Ukraine.

After reading the extent of the land that needs to return to Ukrainian control to obtain a meaningful endpoint to the conflict for Ukraine, seems to require more combat power than Ukraine possesses or even will possess over time. Such victories would require the defeat of Putin and acknowledgement that he is and will be unable to obtain his stated objectives in Ukraine. I have a hard time conceiving how that will happen. There certainly is world opinion that Putin's undertaking is an illegal one. The brutality by which he has prosecuted his war - the convincing evidence that his army has committed war crimes in the war's prosecution - that works against Putin continuing his war, he has shown no willingness to cave to that pressure.

Accordingly and IMO, Ukrainian forces would have to receive considerable support - NATO troops, ships and airpower - to kick Russia out of Ukraine back to legally established boundaries. That's not going to happen. Maybe if Putin pops a nuke but that would spark WW III. If you've been following this war closely and are interested in what ISW thinks it will take to "win" it, the link is below.

https://www.understandingwar.org/bac...ent-october-16

[iam416]

Relatedly, the most recent NYT/Sienna poll is exceedingly bad news for the Ds. I mean, really, really bad. But, perhaps it's off. That's probably the only thing to hope for if you're a D, because the issues aren't going to improve for them between now and election day.