rjshae

Mmm, go with the second.

From the West's perspective the broad Russian plan to take Ukraine appears to have been defeated for the moment and their adventurism contained. I suspect the goal now is to deter future such wars of conquest by Putin, presumably making it sufficiently costly that Russia will settle for a stable compromise. The question in the aftermath is whether to continue the punitive economic sanctions in the hope of bringing down Putin's government. Such may require broader negotiations to settle. Additional negotiation leverage may be provided by a major commitment from the West to broadly implement clean energy programs and to encourage long-term economic and military development of Ukraine (as a deterrent).

The T-72s are probably going to be a stop-gap measure, but better than nothing. Unfortunately, the Ukraine tank factory is in Kharkiv. Then again the Russian tank maker has run out of foreign parts due to the sanctions, so maybe it will be a wash. Russia’s largest tank manufacturer may have run out of parts

The Russian army is still using the T-72, and Poland has 382 of that model. Under the lend-lease model the West could transfer a cost equivalent in modern battle tanks to Poland, then send Poland's tanks to Ukraine.

Yes, most NATO members called for invocation of Article 5 immediately after 9/11. However, there's a certain flexibility in the level of support required to satisfy Article 5, and many countries supplied only token troops to Afghanistan. NATO is still living with the consequences of a historic decision it made hours after 9/11 Military alliances are always a challenge; it's often easier from a command perspective to go it alone.

Differences between the Moon’s near and far sides linked to colossal ancient impact

Most Precise Ever Measurement of W Boson Mass Differs From Standard Model Prediction

Because she was diplomatically careful not to acknowledge the genocide until it had been confirmed? Yeah, sure.

A couple of points about this: a. She later apologized for this statement. b. The data was subsequently attributed to Iraqi propaganda, and was determined to be completely false. Changing views on child mortality and economic sanctions in Iraq: a history of lies, damned lies and statistics

Cane and Pineapples by Dostoevsky. "And the more I drink pinatas the more I feel it. That’s why I drink too. I try to find sympathy and feeling in drink.... I drink so that I may surf twice as much!"

Second Covid booster shields elderly but wears off rapidly Cases are on the rise again, so it looks like people may be wearing masks for a while longer.

Well I'm only 11 hours into it, but thus far I've been enjoying myself. There's enough tactical variety in the encounters to make it a challenge, and it has the same warped humor as Wasteland 2. Apart from the variety of items, the biggest difference I've seen is the increased rate of skill improvement.

I'd suggest it is incumbent on the poster to communicate their intent in the first place.

One of the lessons(?) of colonialism is that it is more cost-effective to exploit another country through trade than through conquest. The latter requires expensive military occupation, whereas the former only requires transportation. But Russia lacks good sea ports so they never had a naval colonial phase, and thus view matters from a different perspective.

Sarcasm in general is sometimes difficult to detect in text form. It can be useful to keep that in mind.

It would depend on the circumstances. Ukraine is fighting on the defensive and is well-motivated.

I just finished watching one of those historical colorized film versions of World War II history; in particular, the Barbarossa operation and German treatment of civilians in Russia and the Ukraine. The parallels are spooky. I suppose it's true; war never changes.

Webb Space Telescope Completes First Multi-Instrument Alignment

One always has to be a little careful of the tendency of a nation to vilify an enemy state for the purposes of wartime propaganda, but on the whole the reports have been very chilling and increasingly beyond the point of denial. Russia is heading toward a very dark place.