xzar_monty

Grim stories abound in Russia. https://au.news.yahoo.com/putin-ally-pregnant-wife-daughter-found-dead-luxury-home-234722486.html

I gave four examples of how the Russian position is internally inconsistent and illogical in relation to what Russia or its representatives have said themselves. Additionally, I think it's fairly hard to come up with charitable interpretation of a position which allows and even encourages whosale slaughter of civilians. For me, anyway. That's the bottom line: Russia has attacked a sovereign country and kills civilians night and day. Justifying that perspective, to use your word, is hard, even if Ukraine is, for example, rather a long way away from qualifying into the EU because of its various internal problems. Your point, as a general point, does have validity and is seen rather a lot in American politics, for example, i.e. in how many Democrats and Republicans perceive and comment upon the view of the opposing party. That's a given. But applying that point to this specific instance does look rather inappropriate. Because, for example, both fearmongering about the threat of NATO and at the same time emptying your western front for NATO to walk in is, indeed, illogical. As is both disdaining the west and sending your children there.

In most contexts, the words "blatant violation" would carry weight. But here, no. Russia has no regard for anything it has agreed upon. And yes, that this is so is, shall we say, a disappointment.

The Russian position is inherently contradictory in so many ways and doesn't bear much scrutiny. For instance: 1) Russia acts as if NATO is a threat and intends to attack it. 2) Russia also clears essentially all of its western front in order to attack Ukraine, because it knows perfectly well that NATO has no intention to attack it, ever. Or: 1) The ship Moskva sunk because there was a fire on board. 2) Retaliatory attacks on Ukraine are needed because the ship Moskva sunk. Or: 1) Major Russian figures publicly regard the west as corrupt and despise it. 2) Major Russian figures also send their own children to the west because they know life is so much better there. Or: 1) Russia's special operation in Ukraine is intended to protect Russian life. 2) 44% of the citizens of Mariupol, by far the most demolished city, were ethnic Russians. (This, however, is perfectly in line with the old Soviet thinking. All countries either neighboring the Soviet Union or within its sphere of influence knew perfectly well that if the Soviet Union came to "help" you, it meant that it was either coming to "oppress" you or, more likely, "kill" you.) Etc. For the psychologically inclined, this is an excellent study in cognitive dissonance. Also, madness.

Putin awards precisely those troops accused of war crimes in Bucha. Let no one anywhere be in doubt as to whether the wholesale slaughter of civilians is intentional or not. It is a priority. This is also Putin's way of giving the finger to the west. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/19/ukraine-russia-war-bucha-brigade-award/

Reactions in Russia don't appear too happy. By the way, it is really quite something to see stuff like this on television. No wonder the people are in a rage, if the quality of discussion has been like this for years and years already. So so sad.

The spontaneous combustion bit.

I know. Unlikely that all of it's true, shall we say. An MD pointed out yesterday that two heart attacks in succession is not unheard of and would not be entirely surprising in these conditions. Obviously this is not proof of even one heart attack.

Future quiz question, therefore: What do Russian ships and Spinal Tap drummers have in common?

Are you speaking from Beverly Hills, Monaco or Dubai? If not, are you simply clueless? That statement sounded like it was not made by the most luminescent star of the intellectual Orion.

Unconfirmed, very recently in: apparently the Russian military has been attacked in some manner in Azerbaijan. Interesting to see how this one develops, if in any way at all. A military expert in my country recently pointed out that given how badly Russia is doing in the war, it would be interesting for anyone so inclined to go through all the countires neighboring Russia and consider the recent relations of those countries with Russia. Tensions may be mounting in several spots. Georgia, for instance.

Anyone reading that article might want to check the reader comments at the end of it. The character "Alex" appears to be a perfect example of a Russian troll. I think it's both fascinating and horrifying to consider that there are these troll factories in Russia, i.e. establishments whose only purpose is to spread misinformation and sow discord on social media. I agree it's a fairly clever plan, but the worldview it's built upon is one I'd never want to share. (Like, why spend your working hours doing something disruptive when you might as well work in the other direction?) https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-troll-factory-hacking/31076160.html PS. The ship appears not to have sunk, even according to Pentagon. Doesn't mean it's useful to anyone anymore, though. Also, apparently no more info on Shoigu's reputed heart attack.

Ha! For such an (apparently) young person you seem remarkably and consistenly cynical in the attitude displayed in your posts. What has made you so cold-hearted? @BruceVC: It's not broken, you're quite right. I was mostly joking. But the change was huge at the time. It was entirely logical, too: before that time, the net was mainly used by people with and in higher education, but when all of that suddenly changed, naturally the tone changed, too. In a similar way, the tone of discussion among, say, doctors, lawyers or anthropologists would change drastically if a small group of such people was suddenly overwhelmed by a huge number of complete laymen who all wanted to participate in the discussion even though they hardly knew the basics. All viewpoints are decidedly not equal.

Nearly everything that is public on the internet suffers from the same flawed perspective: those with nothing to say and those with their emotions running highest are the ones most likely to put forth their ideas. So the sample is absolutely not representative. The internet was broken in September 1993 and never recovered. Those who were around before that time will remember the extent of the change. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Hmm. Shoigu has had a "massive heart attack", according to various not-too-dependable sources. Waiting for confirmation on this.

This is an accusation that you can throw at an awful lot of politicians. The difficulty with it is that proving it either way can be very difficult. My main difficulty with an argument like this is quite simple. It assumes that the person in question (i.e. Merkel, here) is very cynical, while ignoring the fact that this argument is itself even more cynical, and it also presupposes knowledge of other people's deepest motives, although the person who puts forth this argument clearly cannot possess such knowledge. I reiterate that I don't regard Merkel as a good ruler.

I don't know about the weather or surveillance conditions over there right now, but shouldn't this be something that's rather easy to check? The tugging part especially. In Legalese, of course, a couple of guys rowing towards the shore with a piece of iron from the ship might qualify as "being tugged to the port".

Oh, come on. There is no way this is even close to being true. Trump, Orban, etc. I am not saying she was a good leader. But calling her the ultimate populist leader is senseless.

Realistically speaking, though, Ukraine is some distance behind a couple of countries that are themselves a fair distance away from meeting the requirements. But you did say "some day in the future", so yes.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." So yes.

@Mamoulian War: Ok, very interesting! Thanks for that. Plenty of confusion around, as nearly always during a war. (This comment was in reply to the rejection or non-rejection of German representatives, not Kherson airport.)

It was noteworthy to see that when several European leaders visited Ukraine just the other day, a visitor from Germany was NOT welcomed into the country. So he didn't go. That was not a mixed message from Ukraine.

But this is an awful argument. Surely it's clear that commerce with out-and-out criminals doesn't become more justified if more people are doing it. Also, not everybody did it. It is interesting, by the way, how the Baltic countries are among the few to have taken a notably harsher stance towards Russia, and earlier than most. They knew. They knew so well.

Would be great to be able to say whether this represents brilliance from Ukraine, a massive blunder from Russians, or both, or neither. But my knowledge of military strategy is not good at all, so I cannot say. It does appear that Ukraine has managed some pretty impressive things, and it's undeniable that Russia has been downright idiotic in many of its actions and choices. But as for this one, I have no idea.

But the whole energy dependence on Russia was a clever ploy that Germany swallowed hook, line and sinker. As I said, Germany bought a noose because it was cheap, and now it's hanging from it. Russia's aim has surely been well known for quite some time. Germany is not the only one to blame, of course, but in this energy situation it is the main culprit. England is equally culpable in the sense that it most certainly welcomed Russian money, although it was well known how dark it was.