xzar_monty

This is just whataboutism, very poor argumentation. Let us stop this. You can always counter a question with another without responding to the question posed. It's almost never pertinent.

Let us edit the original claim, then. Russia's neighbors should start responding to Russia's blatant and continuing provocations with much greater force. There, that's Israel removed. That was the original claim, Israel was there just for illustrative purposes, but clearly it didn't work. It's probably not going to happen, which I think is a shame, and even if it does happen, it certainly doesn't happen because I happen to support it.

In that case, what would the provocation be? Anyway, this is irrelevant.

I agree it's underrated. Nobody's Fault But Mine is an excellent song. Like Black Dog, it's one of those where good interplay is essential, as it's stop-start almost all the way. I haven't played Nobody's Fault But Mine but I have played Black Dog, on the drums, on stage, and it's good fun. Also quite hard to get right because of its stop-start nature. Much harder than just listening to it would suggest. Incidentally, have you seen this? I think it's quite disappointing. Apparently, the first Led Zeppelin album only contains one song that they wrote themselves (Good Times Bad Times). All the rest are at least very heavily influenced by other songs, if not outright plagiarized from original sources.

Russia and the stolen grain of Ukraine: https://www.bbc.com/news/61790625

Your question rests on a false premise. I know that Canada has no conscription / national service. But other places do.

No. My only comparison to Israel was that Israel responds very, very harshly to all provocations. I believe that's something we can agree upon. My suggestion was that Russia's neighbors should adopt some of this attitude when dealing with Russia. I have little sympathy for Israel's politics in general. But that is a completely different topic.

I sense a bit of a contradiction in what you write. On the one hand, you agree that Putin only respects force and real consequences, but on the other hand you argue that Russia's blatant violations should have no consequences.

Lovely provocations from the Russians again. I am more and more inclined to support an Israeli approach to Russian breaches of territory: as soon as anything leaves international waters / airspace and enters the space of a sovereign country other than Russia, it is to be destroyed. https://twitter.com/Northern_Sentry/status/1541049472129572864/photo/1

Was never a fan of Led Zeppelin live as Jimmy Page tended to be much too casual and loose for my taste, but bloody hell this is good. I'd be willing to bet that the galloping bassline here was a major inspiration for Steve Harris and Iron Maiden in general.

This, by the way, just about perfectly encapsulates the Russian mentality. I agree that Russia will rebuild nothing. (Heck, even now they have no interest in Ukrainian homes or infrastructure. They don't want to take all that for themselves. They want to destroy it all.)

No it's not. If something is dead, it will never come back. Temporary setbacks, even serious ones, are a reality, but speaking of dead is not good rhetoric.

Fairly large blackout in Siberia due to a fire at a power plant, and then this gas explosion elsewhere. I'd love to know how many mysterious explosions and fires Russia tends to have during "ordinary" times and how much their number has increased since the beginning of the war. Looking at this kind of stuff from northern Europe, Russia looks very peculiar, even if it is a huge country. (Like, are fires and explosions in Russia like mass shootings in the US, i.e. every day or every other day?) Nice bang by the way.

I had never even heard of Heilung before. It's not bad at all!

The Baltic nations in general have been wonderful, but I agree that Lithuania is being superb. For anyone wondering why this may be: THEY KNOW. And they don't want it back after 30 years of something else. @Zoraptor: I absolutely may have used the term "front" wrong. Military matters are not my strongest point.

Working on one of the international editions of Bono's forthcoming (November) autobiography. Interesting fellow, I must say. Weather fine, about +20C, and rising towards the weekend.

Thanks a lot for that!

Damn do I wish I spoke Russian and Ukrainian. Apparently there's been a strike at the Novoshakhtinsky Oil Refinery in Russia (confirmed by Reuters, for instance), today. Apparently this is a video of how it happens. Dang, but I'd love to know what these guys are saying.

I think this is precisely what it was. Early on during the war, reports started to surface that the Russians had botched (via corruption) a wholesale attempt to prepare just this: the right people were supposed to be in place, the right traitors were supposed to do the right thing for Russia, but essentially none of it happened. An awful lot of money was wasted in corruption. Early on, I read these reports very sceptically, but then it appeared that at least some proper evidence started to surface, although I'm still not sure about the whole thing. Two days after the war began, some Russian news agency accidentally reported that Ukraine had surrendered and that everything had gone according to plan. The article was removed very quickly, but of course the internet doesn't forget. So even this was planned. It just all went terribly wrong. Like eating a nice dinner with two sledgehammers.

A state of siege was proclaimed in Stalingrad on 25 August 1942. The 10th NKVD Rifle Division organized "destroyer battallions" that were sent into action against the 16th Panzer Division. Behind the destroyer battallions were Komsomol groups with automatic weapons positioned to stop any retreat. This is one of the historical examples I'm referring to.

It is not my source, either. I haven't even seen it -- in fact, this was the first time I heard of it. Your assumptions aren't exactly proper.

Breaches of both Finnish and Swedish airspace have been fairly common recently. Russia is a monster, has always been. Interestingly, in August 1942, Russia (the Soviet Union) had two "lines" on the front. The first was there to attack the Germans, and the second was there to shoot at anyone from the first line who wanted to escape the fighting. Apparently, they're still using this strategy in Ukraine. Russia stands out as the country who have no qualms whatsoever about killing their own.

This feels rather amusing in the sense that we have absolutely no theory on what consciousness is (or, interestingly enough, what time is), so I'm not sure how they're going to argue for it either way. But yeah, coming up with a claim like that is probably not a good idea.

The tweet by Alex Kokcharov reads: "In the four-months war in #Ukraine, #Russia's army has lost 23-42% of its tanks and up to 14% of its armored vehicles." Does anyone have an idea how long it might realistically take to cover losses such as these?

This is a very interesting question, and I wonder about it, too. As for "definitely not military", I am inclined to agree with you, but then Russia has very recently simulated attacks against the Baltic states. I interpret this as sabre-rattling directed at the forthcoming NATO summit, although I don't see much of a point in it even if I look at it like that. Even though I don't live that far away, I have absolutely no idea how Russia could realistically damage Lithuania without using military means. Perhaps Russia's rage stems from this: it's possible that they have no idea, either. (Here, I am reminded of what a local military expert pointed out: it is impossible not to provoke Russia, because if they want to be provoked, they will find reason for provocation; if all else fails, they will attack their own land and view that as enemy provocation, which they have actually done in the past. So a provoked Russia doesn't necessarily mean anything.)