Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

1. Putin is a legitimately bad guy. Nobody has reasonably disputed that.
2. I don't care.

[Mike]

Also, Belarus is facilitating if not actively participating in this invasion. Would not have been possible just couple years years ago. Lukashenko was saved by Putin in 2020 and is a completely owned man now.

Yep. There's a major border crossing and highway that goes straight into Kyiv from Belarus 50 miles away. Gonna be a piece of cake for the Russkies.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I care about what happens but ain't pushing to get directly involved. Have to draw the line somewhere as to where we can reasonably intervene.

Make Putin's decision as costly as possible economically and hope the Ukrainians can make him pay a serious price on the ground.

Just saw a report that there is fighting around Chernobyl and Ukraine's warning that explosions there could release nuclear waste. Lovely.

[iam416]

If we're going to blame the previous president, might as go back one more and recall that Obama sent Ukraine blankets instead of weapons in 2014. The bottom line is nobody really gives a shit about Ukraine. It sucks for the people who live there and it's quite sad to see the images this morning but that's the hard truth.

NRO has a really good chronology of the invasion with some good Twitter.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/...-kyiv/#slide-7

Correct.

The great news with The Chairman is that not only does him enjoy rimming Putin, but he also does the same for the Ayatollah. I guess he learned that from Obama.

[iam416]

I guess the sky high energy prices will be the good news coming out of this as Putin indirectly helps us all fight climate change.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yep. There's a major border crossing and highway that goes straight into Kyiv from Belarus 50 miles away. Gonna be a piece of cake for the Russkies.

Lukashenko traded away his country's independence in exchange for remaining a purely symbolic head of state. If there's justice in the world, he's earned a bad death, along with Putin.

[Hannibal]

Speaking of "Putin's cock holster", you know what DJT was really good at doing? Devaluing Russia's oil reserves. He was a huge proponent of energy production and exporting. It's not exactly a coincidence that Russia feels more comfortable flexing their muscle and invading their neighbors when oil is $100 per barrel instead of $45 per barrel. You know what Russia's #1 export is? Oil. You know what Putin loves? Democrat anti-oil policies.

[Hannibal]

I guess the sky high energy prices will be the good news coming out of this as Putin indirectly helps us all fight climate change.

I wonder what Greta Thunberg thinks of $100/bbl oil and high energy prices.

Oh wait -- you're complaining because you can't heat your home or drive your car to work?

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[Dr. Strangelove]

To an earlier point, this is not a super popular move with the Russian public. According to a recent poll, only 45% said they supported recognizing the independence of the two separatist "Republics". And that's with a virtual 24/7 media propaganda blitz of patriotic songs and old war movies.

‘We don’t want this’: Russians react to the Ukraine invasion | Russia | The Guardian

[iam416]

What is fairly ovbvious is that neither D nor R really cares that much about stopping Putin. What is also fairly obvious is that The Chairman and is grown-ups are, for all practical purposes, no better than dealing with Putin than DJT. Finally, what is entirely obvious is that the Rs and DJT pursued energy independence and The Chairman and the Ds want none of that bullshit.

[Hannibal]

To an earlier point, this is not a super popular move with the Russian public. According to a recent poll, only 45% said they supported recognizing the independence of the two separatist "Republics". And that's with a virtual 24/7 media propaganda blitz of patriotic songs and old war movies.

‘We don’t want this’: Russians react to the Ukraine invasion | Russia | The Guardian

I'm not surprised, I think that somebody upthread compared this to our invasion of Iraq 2003. It's a good analogy IMHO. If it's already unpopular there, then wait until the bills come due and, even worse, bodies start getting shipped home in boxes. The Ukraine can't win, but they can make it really painful.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Pump US oil, unload strategic reserves world wide ...... don't ask the Arabs because they love this shit and will work to keep oil at $100pb. Control the message on broadcast and social media - an unprovoked Russian military takeover of the free democratic Ukraine ordered by a deranged Russian president who seeks the restoration of Czarist Russia causing horrendous human suffering, disruption of the global economy and resetting European security to a pre-1990 state of the threat of a nuclear exchange due to miscalculation. Great job Vlad.

Rapidly harden western critical infrastructure to prevent disruption secondary to Russian Cyber attacks. Patrol space and prevent Russia from achieving a foothold there to leverage a Western response. Conduct a covert electronic counter offensive targeting critical Russian military and civilian nodes (I expect his is already in the works and has been an OPLAN option for years).

Do all the foregoing financial shit already mentioned.

If I have to eat cat food because my retirement portfolio gets wiped out, Ill be really pissed off. Fuck Putin.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm not surprised, I think that somebody upthread compared this to our invasion of Iraq 2003. It's a good analogy IMHO. If it's already unpopular there, then wait until the bills come due and, even worse, bodies start getting shipped home in boxes. The Ukraine can't win, but they can make it really painful.

There will be Ukrainian resistance. The difference is Putin is a no holds barred, ruthless mother-fucker. He'll not hesitate to seek out and liquidate any resistance leadership.

[Hannibal]

There will be Ukrainian resistance. The difference is Putin is a no holds barred, ruthless mother-fucker. He'll not hesitate to seek out and liquidate any resistance leadership.

He might be ruthless, but nobody is more ruthless than unjustly attacked people defending their homes. The Germans found this out the hard way. And if this doesn't go well and end quickly, he's going to have to turn that ruthlessness on his own citizens when they start demonstrating against it.

I want the US to stay out of this but make no mistake, I'm rooting 100% for the Ukraine or at least their citizens.

[Dr. Strangelove]

At some point earlier today Zelensky announced that the military was handing out guns to anyone of fighting age that wanted one.