Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[crashcourse]

good news for the dems

Heard feinstein just cast another vote

[THE_WIZARD_]

Dems will still write her in during the next election...

[THE_WIZARD_]

Good news...bad news for the dems with Feinstein's passing...sadly she is dead...but good news is she can still vote...

[crashcourse]

and be elected president

[THE_WIZARD_]

Swap a brain dead buffoon....for a dead buffoon...

[Jeff Buchanan]

One of Trump's co-defendents in the Georgia case just copped a deal with the prosecuter and plead guilty.

[Jeff Buchanan]

A Bail bondsman named Hall. Got a manageable punishment for being a stoolie.

[Jeff Buchanan]

"I'll be back" ........ Arnold Schwartzeneger in an interview that appeared in Sunday's edition of the NYTs where he was asked if he saw anyone in the Republican party to replace DJT and his divisive personality:

Do you see anyone out there with the potential to be that unifying figure?

No. Someone has to come forward and talk about rebuilding the country in a great way and about the things that are really important rather than, “Should we have a bathroom for trans people?” All the little battles just hold us up.

I'm writing Arnold in when I vote for the president.

[klondike]

good news for the dems

Heard feinstein just cast another vote

Biden will use his executive order for a new Zombie relief urgent care. It will allow a dem to use a dead senator's hand to cast a vote. For the children and our future..

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think it is pretty clear that the west is headed for long term, as in years, military and economic support to be provided to Ukraine. For the US, notwithstanding the passage of a bill late last night that prevented a government shutdown but without approving a new tranche of aid to Ukraine. Hostilities are not going to stop any time soon. Putin's administration in Moscow has done a really good job on two fronts: (1) He's managed to create an alternate reality describing the war in Ukraine to Russian citizens. He's done this by implementing Stalinist like suppression of dissent. Commentators have reported that surveys of Russian citizens willing to speak suggest acquiescence to Putin's war. To speak against it is too dangerous. While life in Russia for the upper classes has not changed much, this group of people are simply willing to carry whatever cross is required for mother Russia against NATO and the US. (2) The Russian economy has faired moderately well given the level of sanctions its working under. Clearly there are entities willing to ignore the sanctions with work-arounds. These have allowed the Russian DIB to sustain itself but in a dcreasing capacity as time goes on.

Questions swirl over which block, the new axis of Putin supporters or the western allies, have the capacity to sustain a years long battle for eastern Ukraine. At present, both sides seem willing and able to try to achieve military objectives while, at this point, diplomacy isn't a factor in ending the war and it is unlikely it will be until one side or the other gains leverage. For Russia, it is exhausting Ukraine's smaller but more efficiently employed armed forces. For Ukraine it is fighting it's way to Melipitol and the Sea of Azov dividing Russian forces and isolating Crimea, such isolation precipitating some level of with drawl, under pressure, of Russian forces there and in the Donbas

Word appeared today that the US has deployed to AWACS platforms to Lithuania. AWACS has the capability to surveil almost all of the airspace over Ukraine to include it's eastern reaches and probably a good deal of airspace in western Russia. The deployment of AWACS platforms would be a prelude to introducing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Such a COA would entail entering NATO forces into the conflict. IMO, it is this kind of "straw to break the camel's back" required for the western alliance to gain the kind of leverage required to obtain a favorable diplomatic solution for Ukraine. Of course, with the advent of NATO's involvement in the conflict, there is the nuclear threat that Putin will raise to blunt western diplomatic objectives.

Bring it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

If we want Ukraine to win and quickly then get fucking serious. Also need to hold the rest of NATO to helping. It's bullshit that this is all on America.

[Jeff Buchanan]

If we want Ukraine to win and quickly then get fucking serious. Also need to hold the rest of NATO to helping. It's bullshit that this is all on America.

Correct.

I posted a chart upthread a week or so ago that showed the EU v. US contributions to Ukraine's battle v. Russia. The EU is now supporting Ukraine with more military and economic aid (to date plus pledged) than the US.

Getting "serious" about Ukraine winning, such as I have suggested - the implementation of a no-fly zone enforced with NATO aircraft - could come in any number of other flavors. An enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine, including Crimea, would only risk the loss of aircraft and possibly aircrew. Committing NATO ground forces could be a follow-on COA, the threat of which to Russia would be a significant factor in reaching a diplomatic solution. The RAF are in no position to take on fresh NATO troops in a conventional war that would likely end quickly with Putin seeking an acceptable off-ramp after getting his armed forces butts kicked.

The world of conflict resolution today is bound first by the strictures that a nuclear exchange at any level would be catastrophic to both sides. Therefore, it should be avoided with escalation, such as might occur, to be carefully chosen least to avoid miscalculation of intent and a mistaken nuclear attack by one side or the other. If NATO aircraft started patrolling Ukrainian airspace with interlocking C&C between airborne, satellite and ground air defense systems (such capability that NATO has in spades and the Russians don't), would undoubtedly precipitate a nuclear threat, most likely a tactical one, from Putin. For Putin, the threat of nukes is an equalizer in the war of words and actions as Russia has a significant stock pile of Tactical Nukes compared to NATO. Would he deploy them? Would he challenge a NATO no-fly-zone with his own air forces? You can guess these questions are being asked and answered within the NATO command structure. Frankly, I don't think Putin would pull the trigger on a nuclear exchange nor send his aircraft into a NATO enforced no-fly zone to challenge it when he's going to suffer a humiliating loss in that one.

[THE_WIZARD_]

We are doing just enough to prolong the war...but not piss off Putin.

[klondike]

It's just business as usual in Russia. Economy is fine, Putin has his domestic support and most of the word support him. Sanctions have done nothing to hurt Putin.

I'm not a Putin rider, just giving facts. playing the long game has put Putin in a great advantage on the world scale in this war. A Russia/China and ?? Axis is all that matters at this point. Makes me wonder of conspiracy how this whole campaign has worked out. And I dont want to do that. Now Zelensky is positioning himsef in a dictator direction and isolating himself from even the U.S. which frankly, is predictable and the legacy of corruption is still firmly grounded in the Ukraine.

[Dr. Strangelove]