BruceVC

We have seen what the Russians are most effective at in there military efforts. Targeting civilians building, rape and killing of civilians So of course there mass retreat will be followed by attacks on electricity stations and the attempts to destroy infrastructure and of course @Zoraptor will defend and justify it and we will hear about Kosovo\Bosnia as usual .." yawn" And whataboutism is a distraction to a point raised, here is the definition "the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counteraccusation or raising a different issue " So when we say " Russia are using the normal cowardly response and targeting civilian infrastructure" and someone says " yes but look at what happened in Bosnia\Kosovo " that is whataboutism We not talking about Bosnia\Kosovo, we talking about Putins War and one of the charges of war crimes is targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and this is a war crime because its " unnecessarily destroying civilian property " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crime

Thats interesting, AI art winning awards Guess I was wrong

I dont have any understanding of art except for simple things but I definitely wouldnt buy this It just doesnt look like anything to me, sorry to be negative. Also I dont believe AI can recreate certain things that are intrinsically human or require a human to be significant Famous and beloved art needs the creativity and imagination of a human brain and psyche and I dont see how AI will ever do that?

So true and you can see the main reason the journalist got things so wrong is he egregiously overestimated Russia's military strength and performance and completely underestimated the Ukrainian resolve, to quote "The nature of the reported Russian buildup suggests the expanded war, if it happens, will differ fundamentally from the past seven years of simmering stalemate. Russia has the ability to carry out a large-scale joint offensive operation involving tens of thousands of personnel, thousands of armored vehicles, and hundreds of combat aircraft. It would likely begin with devastating air and missile strikes from land, air, and naval forces, striking deep into Ukraine to attack headquarters, airfields, and logistics points. Ukrainian forces would begin the conflict nearly surrounded from the very start, with Russian forces arrayed along the eastern border, naval and amphibious forces threatening from the Black Sea in the south, and the potential (increasingly real) for additional Russian forces to deploy into Belarus and threaten from the north, where the border is less than 65 miles from Kyiv itself." In short, this war will look nothing like the status quo ante of conflict in Ukraine, and that undermines the first justification for U.S. aid: deterring Russia. The Ukrainian military has been shaped to fight the conflict in the Donbass and thus poses little deterrent threat to Russia; provision of U.S. weapons can do nothing to change that. If Moscow is willing to launch a major war, invading the second-largest country in Europe with a population of over 40 million, all while absorbing tremendous economic punishment from the West, then it is unlikely to be deterred by whatever U.S. military assistance can be delivered in the coming weeks. The only weapons systems that could plausibly impose costs that could change Russia’s calculus, such as surface-to-air missiles and combat aircraft, are ones that the United States would be highly unlikely to provide the Ukrainians. And, regardless, they could not be procured, delivered, and be made operational—to say nothing of getting the Ukrainian operators trained up to use them—in time to have an impact on this crisis. Large, modern systems require extensive training and material support.

Great article and good summary, I love this part It was successful in provoking Russia to move equipment and personnel to the southern front, including partly from Kharkiv region, said Berezovets. “Meanwhile [our] guys in Kharkiv were given the best of western weapons, mostly American,” he said. Putin must be absolutely loving the US at the moment, the military hardware and assistance provided to Ukraine has made a huge difference

As the Russians are retreating they abandoning huge amounts of military equipment that include tanks. Very useful for the Ukrainians and there war effort. I assume this is legitimate

" 1000 years of darkness"

Well mostly its because we want Putins War to epic fail because it represents everything we say we opposed to like attacks on the right of sovereignty and we dont like the killing of civilians, war crimes and we believe in Democracy So these things matter? And yes, you right. NATO does matter and it can effectively support Ukraine ...well hopefully

Yes this is long overdue, Russia has been attempting to blackmail the world through energy, like gas to the EU, and trying to worsen starvation so its a good move to encourage a Russian oil price cap. But why do we care, who is going to complain if Russian oil is set at a certain price? It funds Putins War and since we all opposed to that this is good news..less money for Russia Here is the link outside of FT https://worldnewsera.com/news/finance/stock-market/us-warns-of-sanctions-for-buyers-that-ignore-price-cap-on-russian-oil/

I agree, we must be cautious. Its clear the Ukrainians have had military successes but I do think there is some hyperbole and people being overly enthusiastic

I wish autocratic leaders could be removed as easily as that but its unlikely this will happen to end Putins draconian and flawed leadership?

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/09/ukraine-offensive-kharkiv-izyum-russia Much of success of the Ukrainian offensive seems to be around how the Russians fell for a ruse, the Ukrainians publicly stated they were going to attack Kherson so the Ruskies moved much of there forces to that region but then the Ukrainians also attacked the Kharkiv region which completely surprised the mighty Russian bear I remember on Sky News the military analysts were saying " its imprudent that you announce a military campaign so openly " and they were understandably critical of the Ukrainians apparent strategy with this offensive But that was just part of the successful broader subterfuge and the Russians fell for it

So you still believe this invasion is about cleansing Ukraine of Neo-Nazis? And the Nukes and NATO, is that significant or is it just all those Nazis?

Nah, Im not going to change my opinion because Russia vs Saudi Arabia oil production is not on the same scale or importance. The ME is much more significant And my argument as I have mentioned several times is not just about energy but also the reality of how most countries in the ME conduct themselves, so lets be consistent with our outrage and countries "we should be isolating and vilifying " Also you have posted time and time again you think I am a fascist, racist, colonialist etc. Irrespective of what I say so why would this matter? But I appreciate the suggestion, its noted

I always have DSTV on the background when Im working from home and today I have been watching The Queens memorial service almost the whole day. What a monarch, you can see how respected and loved she was for so many people. She carried herself with such dignity and everything was about duty and sacrifice for what the Monarchy represents for the UK and the broader Commonwealth The end of an era for sure

Sure, it could go on for years but I dont think so. I expect an end to current active engagements in the next 1-3 years maximum And my definition of that is where the Ukrainian and Russian forces arent officially fighting on a daily basis

During war collaborators are traitors to there country, I have very little sympathy for them

But Iran has also murdered people and continues to murder people so by the general view on this forum which is " we dont deal with countries that murder people " then we musnt deal with Iran either The main inconsistency with the criticism towards Saudi Arabia is basically every country in the ME, including Israel, over the last 20 years has murdered people so why just target Saudi Arabia if that bothers you so much?

There were some interesting views raised where concerns have been raised that West\US is going to drop Ukraine in the same way it " stopped " supporting other countries and there conflicts and futures like Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or Afghanistan Firstly as usual lets drop the race card as something significant to the West\US response to geopolitical developments. Each of these wars has different reasons for the ostensible support or lack of support for the specific country. But since the War on Terror has subsided Ukraine is much more significant than any of those conflicts for several reasons and its highly unlikely the West\US will abandon Ukraine for several reasons Putins War and the support for Ukraine is a proxy war to end the continuous Russian hegemony and militancy and anti-Western rhetoric we have experienced in the last 20 years which at some stage had to be addressed Sadly its been fought by the people of Ukraine and they are suffering the real carnage of Putins unprovoked invasion So the very least the West\US will do is continue to fund the Ukrainian war effort, this funding is relatively a small part of the budgets of Western countries and its much better than a direct Western presence fighting the Russians The most important question is how much aid will come to Ukraine once Putins War is over, the jury is still out on that But the most important consideration is the West\US definitely wont abandon Ukraine during Putins War because this invasion directly threatens the stability of the EU even though its not a direct attack on the EU. And the US is involved because Putin has made this about the West and how the US is to blame somehow for the Democratic decisions Ukrainians made and there decisions around sovereignty

This is one of the most interesting war videos I have ever watched explaining simply military technical terms which is not my strong point Its easy to understand this video and especially how HARM are used

I know being pedantic is your thing but you can do better than that, you know very well what I talking about and how important and relevant MbS is

You can be as outraged as you want but if you are a world leader with concerns with energy supply then going out your way to anger and isolate Saudi Arabia is imprudent especially under these current energy concerns caused by Putins War Saudi Arabia directly influences global oil production because apart from its own oil resources it can literally increase or decrease oil production because the majority of Sunni oil producers in the ME will listen to what Saudi Arabia says about production capacity. These countries contribute about 40% of global oil supply and contribute more towards the oil markets most of our countries buy from https://www.statista.com/topics/6508/middle-east-oil-industry/#topicHeader__wrapper Now is not the time to play " gotcha" political questions when the UK is going through an energy crisis and the last thing Liz Truss wants to do is compromise its relationship and historical friendship with Saudi Arabia And its well known the Saudis dont appreciate this type of criticism

Of course it is, its also one of these well known politically controversial and SJW questions because everyone must be "outraged " by the killing and publicly criticize the Saudi king despite how everyone has moved on and its well known how significant Saudi Arabia is in global oil production especially with how Putin is trying to use energy to push Russian militancy and hegemony And its also well known how the Saudi king doesnt like this type of direct and public attention and commentary, so its an obvious attempt at a "gotcha " She gave the most appropriate response, well played

Im about 15 hours in BG2 EE and its going really well, firstly I have forgotten much of the main narrative which is important. I do remember Irenicus is linked to the Elven Queen and he was cast out or something similar but most of it I have forgotten I must say he really is a diabolical and deeply dysfunctional person, when I encountered those creatures trapped in those tubes and completely insane his dark nature really became clear. Viconia has just joined my party and so has Hexxat who had a very interesting quest for her to join me, I never thought I would allow a Vampire to join my righteous quest but she is a worthy combat addition so I will see how it goes Im now in the city and trying to raise money to free Imoen and I want to get my magic license I also loaded the Skie Silvershield mod and I intend to save her from the Soultaker dagger, exciting times

https://www.wsj.com/articles/queen-elizabeth-ii-what-to-know-about-the-british-monarchs-health-and-royal-lines-of-succession-11662650702?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo The Queen is under medical supervision as her doctors are worried about her health, she is 96 and has lived an incredible life. Lets hope she is okay