Things are getting interesting.

The Russian situation seems to be getting tense. Both sides have kicked out multiple diplomats and I just saw that Russian hackers have hacked into our power grid. Seems like things are going swimmingly.

Jesus dude. No. Just no.

What part of "No discussing politics" do you not get?

Can't we not start the New Year with a locked thread?

I think this goes a bit beyond red and blue American politics. I'd let this one ride, till it devolves into obligatory name calling.

In reply to Stefan:

Not politics. Current events. If you children are not able to have an adult conversation then lock the berkeleying thing and ban me.

I'm intrigued by the whole thing, but a couple of my questions probably do border on political. Mostly motivation, from all sides.

The first step toward having an adult conversation would be to find some adults now wouldn't it?

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

I'm just hoping that there is enough level heads on both sides to slow down this escalation. I could see things going very sideways very quickly.

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

Touché

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: In reply to Stefan: Not politics. Current events. If you children are not able to have an adult conversation then lock the berkeleying thing and ban me.

Is that you Datsun 1500?

In reply to MDJeepGuy:

I wish I had that berkeleyers money

Having grown up watching Red Dawn on VCR and remembering the Berlin Wall coming down, Russia is ALWAYS the enemy.

regardless of who won the election, the very fact that Russians may have influenced our election should be cause for alarm. I know we have done it to many countries in the past (and are paying dearly for that now) but that does not make it right. Just desserts maybe, but still does not make it right that it happened to us.

We need to find a way to keep it from happening again.

In reply to mad_machine:

That's a little outside of the scope of what I'm concerned about. Yeah, I get it all falls from alleged election tampering. It's the escalation of retaliations that is of more concern to me. Remember that WW1 was kicked off with one bullet to the head from one gun.

Hey. Where can I get a Lada?

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: In reply to mad_machine: That's a little outside of the scope of what I'm concerned about. Yeah, I get it all falls from alleged election tampering. It's the escalation of retaliations that is of more concern to me. Remember that WW1 was kicked off with one bullet to the head from one gun.

these are times that require cool heads.

mazdeuce wrote: Having grown up watching Red Dawn on VCR and remembering the Berlin Wall coming down, Russia is ALWAYS the enemy.

Amen. I grew up doing fallout drills and thinking commies were just as bad as, if not worse than, the devil combined with Hitler.

Im trying to learn more about this whole thing without getting extremely paranoid about a real life red dawn event. Or worse, fallout without vault tec.

I don't think there is any thing to worry about. Certain people have been trying to goad Russia into WW3 for the last few years, but thankfully they have not taken the bait. Russia does not seem to desire war. Once the blame Russia for everything fad passes in this country, I think things will be ok between us.

Stop reading fake news.

Putin doesn't want a war. Russia can't afford a war any more than we can.

Another issue is Russia is a bit of an anarchy right now. After decades of iron-fist rule (something the Russian govt can no longer afford), a portion of the populace are like teenagers in the freshman dorms at college. Putin does not really control them. Not even close. Would he ever admit that? Berk no. Why are they doing it? Some for potential financial gain. Some just because they can and watching us squirm amuses them.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: In reply to Streetwiseguy: I'm just hoping that there is enough level heads on both sides

Hahaha!

mad_machine wrote: these are times that require cool heads.

Yep, and the supply is relatively short right now. I will say that the Russians have cool heads. Cool and calculating with their own best interests solidly in mind.

T.J. wrote: Stop reading fake news.

Remember when we called that "propaganda"?

T.J. wrote: Stop reading fake news.

But where else would I find out about all the people great new pizza restaurants.

Look. Here's what makes me nervous. You've got someone who is the president elect siding with a foreign power before listening to our own people. This scares me. No matter who is in the whitehouse. We should be America first and not complementing foreign powers while making our own people look publicly stupid. Not smart.

I remember people used to attack obama by saying that they didn't know what side he was on. Now I'm just shaking my head.

When I worked for Sikorsky helicopter, Jeff pino (rip), would hold all hands meetings and show us that number of cyber attacks that happened on our systems every year. There were two countries where most of these things origininated. China and Russia were always trying to steal the prints to the Blackhawk constantly. They're not our friends people.

Well, Iggy, certain groups are trying to screw up certain other groups with old prejudices, like the Cold War.

An interesting read from a leftist rag.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

Look I understand that Russia is a shell of its former self. But I spent enough time making military hardware to know they are actively trying to steal our military secrets. Everyday. All day.

Sure, Iggy. That's what countries do. We do it to them, they do it to us. Doesn't make it right, but it is a fact of international "relations." Certainly not something that just came up. Recall how the commies got the bomb, for example.

Here is what the guy that created the NSA's super electronic spy program says about it.