xzar_monty

This is @ComradeYellowopenly rejoicing in the killing of people. To the extent that this forum has any rules in place at all, this must surely be a violation gross enough to merit a permanent ban. Surely. In fact, an indignant moderator already told me that this user had been banned, but clearly that's not true.

Why the snark?

@Malcador, you only post information concerning Ukrainian losses or failures and things that are generally going badly for "the west". Why's that? I'm just curious.

This is true. Sad but true. Btw, I've recently been wondering whether Putin is intentionally lying or whether he's clearly deluded. I suppose there is no way to know the answer to this. As an example of what I mean, after the shopping mall strike he said that Russia doesn't attack civilians and that it always strikes the right targets (I'm paraphrasing but the gist is about right). Now, this is clearly at complete odds with reality. But is he lying or deluded? Also, given Russia's previous NATO stance, I suppose Putin is sort of admitting Russia's powerlessness of sorts when he says that “If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can join. That’s up to them. They can join whatever they want.” This is not the Putin of last year.

Given how the culture of the Russian army is likely to brutalize everyone in it, I'm not surprised.

Extremely interesting stuff on the extent and manner of corruption in Russia and the Russian army. This would make me sad and sorry if the country wasn't engaged in such slaughter at the moment. Interesting tidbit from one of the many threads this ChrisO has provided: the corruption of course is nothing new -- in his 1854 Sevastopol Sketches, Tolstoy wrote of Russian officers: "While they are in the service their main aim is the acquisition of money." On threadreader: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1542269393945903105.html And a Twitter thread:

Russia withdraws from Snake Island. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russian-forces-have-withdrawn-snake-island-2022-06-30/

<heck, sorry, ignore. was not necessary. moderators can delete this.>

Cover band stuff tends to be uninspired but sheesh these guys are good and this cover is amazing. The guitarist is absolutely leaving orbit towards the end. Very heartily recommended to anyone who's interested in this era of music.

That's a fair point, but I think the reaction has something to do with the "last straw that breaks the camel's back" phenomenon, in the sense that when injustices or other such things accumulate, the point where folks go "I've had it, this is enough" is sort of arbitrary.

Well, most countries recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine so they do have a point.

It would be great if you cared to specify just what this "everything apart from that" is. I am not sure at all whether I am with you on this, but as you appear to be very knowledgeable on the matter, I'd appreciate the details. I don't know what the consensus is in Russia, but some commentators / politicians / whatnot are mightily angry at Turkey.

Can I? I had no idea I speak Polish. Trust me, I most certainly don't.

Finished working on Bono (for now). About a month off next, slightly more. The archipelago is calling (not Deadfire). Northern Europe is really quite warm, not that it compares with some other places.

But where have you seen this? On these forums? Are you sure you're not projecting? Btw, when I asked for an example of the kind of behaviour you described, I was being completely serious. Your "Haha" reaction was somewhat typical: you claimed that I was "continuously" doing what you said I was doing, but when I asked for an example, you didn't give me one. Although there should be plenty of them. This is how it often goes: a blanket statement is made, but when details are asked for, they are not given. Thus, no progress is made, understanding doesn't become clearer. Earlier, you didn't answer my sincere question, and when I pressed you, you said you didn't answer "Because your question had an already known and obvious answer which you chose to play ignorant about". Again, you are projecting: the known and obvious answer was not known and obvious to me, and this was precisely why I was asking. I have no agenda: if I ask, I am honestly curious and wish to know. I don't think it's useful to project your sense of "the obvious" to other people: when someone asks, simply answer -- or ignore the whole thing. That's the kind thing to do. Don't be snide. I agree this may change if someone asks whether the world is round or whether fire is hot.

Good! I stand corrected. From now on, the point must be made more precisely, and I should have done that earlier, no question -- blame is on me. The point being that Russia is not attractive outside its immediate geographical sphere; i.e. it is not a dream destination in the sense that the US is (although I wouldn't be surprised if the US ceased to be a dream destination). The link says the majority of immigrants come from the former USSR, places like Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. This stands to reason. Russia is of course currently engaged in a process of extremely harshly forced "immigration" from Ukraine into Russia.

Can you give me one example where I have done that?

NATO forces are already extremely close to Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and the Kola Peninsula (with its nukes and other military stuff). This has been the case for quite a long while. Incidentally, Finland joining NATO will not change these distances except perhaps slightly in the case of St. Petersburg (not sure, won't check now). All of this hasn't bothered Russia one bit.

Given Turkey's dictatorial regime, there is no way the result of the negotiations could have been worded any other way. I.e. boastful, imprecise. From what I have read about the documents, I don't see much extraction.

Living close to Russia, I can attest that there is almost certainly no country that is worse living close to than Russia. There has never been a moment in history when it's been trustworthy. I recently read an African commentator point out how good Russia is because it is not a former colonist power. This is true, it is not. It is a current colonist power, and very racist to boot, among all other failures that it has. Russia did not take part in the African slave trade, but anyone with an access to a map should be able to instantly see why, given how strongly the trade was a naval endeavour. This African commentator almost made me lose hope. I reiterate the point that there is no significant movement into Russia. People don't want there. A fairly large number does want out, though.

Fair enough, the chances are indeed quite low, but I don't think I'm supposed to know the nationalities of the forum members. Btw, as far as your own posts are concerned, the swiftness and regularity with which you bring up the manifold failures of the west (about which I am neither in denial nor ignorant) gives the impression of a fairly rabid but also subtler-than-usual pro-Russia activist. Whether this is the intention or not, I don't know.

It's not their back yard. I'm sorry but your argument doesn't even begin to hold water. Russia is currently the equivalent of a possessive relative, boyfriend or something who hasn't understood that other people are their own people and can do what they want. So it resorts to violence.

Are you serious in thinking that Ukraine's intention to join NATO is a provocation? Really? It is not up to Russia what Ukraine does with regards to NATO. That's entirely Ukraine's decision. And if you think that Russia regards NATO as a threat, please stop kidding yourself. Russia's entire western front has been wide open and empty for months now, very easy for NATO to walk in. Of course NATO doesn't do that. It has never had any intention to do that. Russia knows it, this is why the west of the country was emptied. Only some Russia apologists may seriously think that Russia fears a NATO attack.

It is whataboutism. There is an important distinction to be made. If you first answer the question posed to you, you are perfectly free to continue the topic into another direction. This is all fine. But if you do not answer the question and simply dodge it by posing another question, this is mean and can be taken as an example of whataboutism. It's a question of manners and fairness.

I was also thinking we certainly cannot conclude they didn't understand the metaphor. May have even been trying to help out, as you suggest.