Elerond
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Posts posted by Elerond
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1 minute ago, 213374U said:
Nah, I've been mindlessly reposting every "OSINT" report about ghost aces and any British tabloid piece regarding faulty nukes that I could get my hands on, but always prefaced by a lazy "reportedly" caveat emptor. Ain't nobody got time to check if the authors have written literally literally countless books.
Man, I love the smell of self-satisfied farting in the morning.
Clearly, and there is no difference between between column where author uses their own expertise as proof and articles reporting claims made by other people
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4 minutes ago, kanisatha said:
No the F-35s are not gonna' happen. But apparently they are currently negotiating for a batch of F-16 block 70 jets, and he will try to not only get the US to agree but to also give him a cutrate price. He badly needs the jets in the face of Greece's recent shopping spree.
It is always nice to see such good allies
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25 minutes ago, BruceVC said:
Elerond if I said to you 4 months ago, " Elerond, Finland is going to vote to join NATO and the vote in your parliament is going to be over 90% to join " Im sure you would have said " No chance BruceVC, why would we do that " ?
Its amazing how the security of your country can change things
I watched this documentary on CNN about these miles of underground tunnels under Helsinki. Their is enough space to house 900K people and their are pools and ice-hockey rinks. Incredible feat of engineering...have you been into these tunnels?
https://www.myhelsinki.fi/en/see-and-do/underground-helsinki
Yes it seem that it only changed it to worse direction as it seem that Nato will reject Finland's and Sweden's applications and only result was to vex Russia.
Yes I have been in those tunnels and similar tunnels/shelters in other cities.
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96% (188-8) of FInnish Parliament voted for seeking Nato membership
Although Turkey has said that they will block Finland's membership
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12 minutes ago, 213374U said:
Would that we held every journalist, outlet, commentator and "anonymous source" to those standards.
Heh.
You don't?
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1 hour ago, BruceVC said:
Elerond we should celebrate this momentous historical moment for Finland. I have found this restaurant below in Helsinki, its called Lappi and its looks great. They serve Reindeer and I have never eaten Reindeer before, dont worry I will pay. What time should I make the reservation ...8:30 pm ?
Let wait to next week, so that our parliament is able to send official application.
8:30 pm is good for me any day to go in Lappi
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32 minutes ago, BruceVC said:
The word genocide has a specific definition and shouldnt be used in a cavalier way
If its not genocide then you shouldnt use it. If the Israelis wanted to kill every Palestinian man, women and child they have more than enough military hardware to do that ...they dont want to do that so lets not use inaccurate words
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml
Usually when Israel is accused of committing genocide against Palestinians it is section 3. in UN's definition, as Israel forces Palestinians to live in certain areas, which size they constantly decrease by occupying more areas themselves, they control and block trade to these areas, the control electricity, heath and other energy to these areas, which they have weaponized against Palestinians.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/11/senate-abortion-rights-bill-vote
No republican support and Manchin also voted against.
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9 hours ago, Zoraptor said:
Sigh. I didn't bother with the 'full quote' because I know what the compromise offered turned out to be.
The 'compromise' the EU wanted was... Russia could still donate the 20bn (iirc) they were offering to bail out Ukraine. No RBK membership, but they could still provide the sweetener. Now imagine what it would have been labelled had the Russians suggested a 'compromise' where the EU and IMF still provided their aid package and took on Ukraine's debt, but not the association agreement. I'd have heard the squeals of outrage here, and most of the population of Brussels would need hearing aids.
The edit part is extraordinarily sophist though, I'm afraid. If it were my opinion then sure, legit argument and I probably wouldn't even have that opinion in the first place without the quote- but critically, relevance is not based on my opinion of it, is it, since I didn't make the quote?
No kidding, actual membership was not on the table in 2013. Barroso thought it was relevant enough to bring up though, that is absolute fact, as is that he explicitly frames it as one or the other. So, you're essentially telling the EC President that he was being irrelevant on something regarding the EU, not me.
2013 even seeking membership was not in table, only free trade area like EU has with Turkey
He also says that EU is willing to look compromise that works for Ukraine. Where Russia blocked Ukraine trade to Russia until Ukraine rejected association agreement, which is clearly signal that Russia had no problems with Ukraine making agreements with EU and EU being uncompromising jerks.
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From full quote you see that Barroso didn't put it as them or us , or demanded that Ukraine can't be in trade union with Russia, but the agreement between Ukraine and EU needs to take account that free trade deal would be only between Ukraine and EU not with any trade partner of Ukraine
"Agreements on the establishment of a deep and comprehensive free trade area between the EU and Ukraine contain obligations that need to be fulfilled. We discussed this issue with President [Viktor] Yanukovych today. Our positions were clearly defined... One country cannot at the same time be a member of a customs union and be in a deep common free-trade area with the European Union. This is not possible," Barroso said.
However, he noted that there are "some pragmatic ways to address this issue."
"And we have to respect the position of Ukraine," Barroso said, adding that Kyiv and Brussels have a common goal of political association and economic integration.
EDIT:
Also Association Agreement that was blocked was not the mentioned "deep common free-trade area" but agreement to increase co-operation between EU and Ukraine and within 10 years form agreement about free(r) trade area between EU and Ukraine. So Ukraine could have signed it and be member of customs union with Russia.
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On 5/6/2022 at 11:54 PM, Zoraptor said:
No. They. Didn't.
Really, it's not that hard to actually check these things. The EU made it an 'us or them' situation, not the Russians.
They did
And EU didn't make it us or them.
You can check it yourself
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25162563
QuoteThousands of people have staged fresh protests in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, at President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign an EU association agreement.
Some 10,000 Demonstrators in Independence Square carried Ukrainian and EU flags late on Friday and chanted "Ukraine is Europe".
Mr Yanukovych, who attended an EU summit in Lithuania on Friday cited pressure from Russia for his decision.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-trade-idUSKCN0HI1T820140923
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/ukraine-european-union-trade-russia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/ukraine-suspends-preparations-eu-trade-pact
https://www.dw.com/en/harsh-words-with-russia-over-ukraine/a-17301176
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13 hours ago, Zoraptor said:
Thing is, Russia has never really had a problem with the EU, just NATO. They were fine with Ukraine joining the EU back in 2014 when Yanukovich was in charge, and they're fine with Ukraine joining the EU now.
Russia has lot of issues with EU
Russia blocked EU's and Ukraine's cooperation pact in 2013 when Yanukovich was in charge
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1 hour ago, Azdeus said:
Well, most polls point to about a 50/50 split when it comes to public opinion, but then again it's an election year so if the politicians think it's in their benefit... you know how it goes, refer to my signature and all that. Almost all the political parties went to election with promises to not join NATO, and now that we're tested, having just two months ago declared that we won't be bullied, they're folding immediately.
In Finland support from Nato changed from one party publicly supporting it and 21% of population supporting joining to all put all parties publicly supporting joining to Nato and 65% of population supporting joining.
Change is mainly caused by fact that Russia is willing to sacrifice so much for little gain which caused people lose faith to foundation of Finland's defense which is to make attack cost so much that there is no benefit for doing so, but such defense doesn't work against enemy which is willing to sacrifice all for nothing.
Finland is also putting Sweden in difficult situation as big sunk of Sweden defense currently relies on co-operation with Finland and it seems that Swedish politicians fear that they will lose that co-operation if Finland joins in Nato and Sweden does not.
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Just now, Guard Dog said:
Sinema would. No doubt. Manchin maybe, maybe not. But I know at least two Republicans will be a yes and maybe as many as four. Collins is a yes and Murkowski is a yes. Romney, Lee, Toomey, & Ernst could go either way. You only need one IF Sinema & Manchin are a "no".
Don't you need 60 to prevent filibuster
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1 hour ago, Darkpriest said:
@Elerondi believe that US itself killed the Memorandom as not legally biding, but more of a political commitment way before 2014 as it was justifying actions against Belarus.
Although the Memorandum is not legally binding, we take these political commitments seriously and do not believe any U.S. sanctions, whether imposed because of human rights or non-proliferation concerns, are inconsistent with our commitments to Belarus under the Memorandum or undermine them
I can't comment on the UN part and any other agreements, as I have no knowledge on those and really no time to look for some well composed summary of those.
US uses often same approach towards international agreements as Russia, meaning that if they don't like one they don't follow it.
Countries could complain to UN where US and Russia use their veto powers to kill such complaints.
EDIT: There is no police which enforces international law, it gets enforced only when other countries decide to enforce it. Same goes to all international agreements.
“Where is the security that the security council needs to guarantee? It’s not there, although there is a security council. So where is the peace? Where are those guarantees that the United Nations needs to guarantee?
It is obvious that the key institution of the world which must ensure the coercion of any aggressor to peace simply cannot work effectively.” -Zelenskiy
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1 hour ago, Darkpriest said:
That could in theory be said also on US and EU as it was their unilatteral decision to ban trading etc. Despite existing contracts. This is a two way street, so one has to be really careful with all sorts of absolutisms.
Russia did not attack any of the countries or seize the assets of such, which unilaterally broke trade relationships in multiple sectors. They did act in response to economic hostilities.
US and EU acted according to Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances which Russia has also signed
Russia broke their several of their international agreements and their own constitution
53 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:By that logic, Russia also imposes sanctions. It does not break any contracts, if its stipulated as sanctions and accepted by other members of international community?
If they have legal reason to impose sanctions then they don't break any contracts but otherwise they do.
Acceptance of legal sanctions is stipulated by UN General Assembly or UN security council which both Russia is also member
38 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:Yes, so by that logic legislation approved by Duma in Russia is also not illegal, right?
It is not in Russia (except cases where approved legislation is against Russian constitution and Duma didn't use constitutional change process), but it does not mean that it isn't against agreements signed by Russia,
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17 hours ago, Darkpriest said:
Yeah, BBG had some **** ups today apparently, as they've caused misinformation with the Austrian and Slovak part. Haven't seen Germans openly denounce that.
BBG ****ed up also some data release on Meta, not that it helped FB ticker in any way today...
Interestingly, while the USD is highest in value in 20 years, RUB is gaining value on it still. Not sure who is pumping the RUB because this is beyond actions of what Russia alone could have done with regulations.
Uniper plans to pay with euros, but using scheme where Russian bank switches them to rubles.
Ruble is not freely traded so it has currently value decided by Russian central bank as you can only buy rubles from them.
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1 hour ago, BruceVC said:
More Americans came out to vote in the 2020 election than any other as far as I remember....but at the least it was 60% or so of the total population
Americans can vote by post and vote weeks in advance in many states under certain circumstances. Voting is not hard in the US despite what you may believe. It just requires some effort
Need to register to vote and you need to do it periodically in most states and voting ballots are filled with billion different elections and referendums and insistence to keep election during week days make voting quite shore, compared to many other countries.
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6 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:
Yes, I too managed to find the wikipedia article for the Moscow Times, though it was certainly a struggle. Doesn't really dispute anything I said though, does it? To whit:
My message was to give details about The Moscow Times as people in this thread didn't seen to be familiar with it and where it operates and is it Russian publication.
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35 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:
The Moscow Times is, and always has been, a publication aimed at people with english as their first language, ie not Russians. Anyone care to guess when it got an online edition, in Russian, as a paper called the Moscow Times? It was... 2020, and they had 4 years where there was literally no Russian language version of the paper at all. It's target audience is, was, and always has been foreigners, not Russians, despite its name.
The Moscow Times was founded in Moscow 1992 by Dutch immigrant Derk Sauer and Annemarie van Gaal. Where its headquarters remained until March 2022.
The Moscow Times started as English language paper for tourist and expats. It started as free twice a week print. 2005 Finnish publishing group Sanoma bought it with 142M€. 2015 Sanoma sold it to Demyan Kudryavtsev who stopped publishing printed version and moved it fully to internet. 2017 Derk Sauer bought it with Vladimir Jao and Svetlana Korshunova. Sauer owns 19% of its stock because Russian law that does not allow foreign people own over 20% of Russian media.
The Moscow Times started Russian language version in 2020, it is currently blocked in Russia. English version is still freely accessible.
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Putin always has such War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength mentality when he gives these statements
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Clearly Australia needs to attack to Solomon Island to ensure that their territory is not threatened, as such actions seem to be acceptable by most of world
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14 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:
Man, it wasn't even remotely close. Not that I wanted LePen to win in any way, but that is really lopsided.
It is bit closer than in last time when Macron won LePen 66% - 34%
Only reason why there was doubt was that left wing voters don't like Macron at all, there was question if they don't vote at all or if they give protest votes for LePen, but it seem that most of them hate LePen even more than they hate Macron.
It will not be easy five years for Macron considering that Political field is pretty much split three almost equal size parts and voters confidence towards classical parties is almost zero. So France political field most likely will see big changes in incipient election cycle
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4 hours ago, Sarex said:
And when the good fight ends and rebuilding starts, they will be asking Ukraine who?
It depends on who wins.
If Russia wins then Ukraine is out of luck, if Ukraine wins it will get some level aid, level depends how long the conflict will last. Now Ukraine could get unprecedented amount of aid, but longer conflict goes less political points aid will give for politicians
Ukraine Conflict - "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
in Way Off-Topic
Posted
There is no unbiased data, only guesses by different people.
US intelligence agencies have given following estimate
5,500–11,000 killed, 18,000+ wounded 24 February – 19 April 2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/europe/russia-ukraine-donbas-strategy.html