OMG Putin must have them quaking in their boots https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/russia-list-mayors-premiers-journalists-1.6426052
OMG Putin must have them quaking in their boots https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/russia-list-mayors-premiers-journalists-1.6426052
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:Some of it might be "optics" to use that word again... The number of nations "known" to have nuclear weapons may not be the same as nations having "operational" nuclear weapons.
Most countries that have nuclear weapons only have a hundred or two. 90% of the worldwide total is split between the US and Russia, the other 7 countries have many fewer. Even the US and Russia currently have many times fewer than they did in the 60s. https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat
It's a lot easier to keep control of your nukes when you only have a couple hundred and almost all of them are submarine-launched warheads, vs the insanity that was "airborne alert".
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
...It is somewhat concerning that with how much Russia spends on its military (est. at around $70B/year), how much of that is actually going towards the maintenance and security of their nuclear arsenal....
Surprisingly, one of the reasons the Russian military is in the state it is (I have read) is because Russia has spent a lot of money on upgrading it's nuclear arsenal and designing and building some next generation weapons which are not only in very small supply, but worthless in this war (if they actually work).
I don't really understand it myself. I am not sure what an upgraded nuclear arsenal buys them, but they seem to (maybe the nukes guy is Put Put secret boyfriend)
Also, it's not entirely hard to understand why the US has a lot of incidents. We have had them the longest, including when they were a LOT bigger and harder to handle. We have (and had) a crap load of them. We, historically, liked to carry them around. Oh.. and we actually tell people (mostly) when we do have issues... unlike some ("nothing wrong with our giant nuclear reactor, why do you ask") people.....
Some tidbits:
- It seems like the Russian advance is making, maybe, some slight progress. I would be very curious as to how long they will actually keep it up though. I am guessing the Ukrainians are giving them a bit of the "death by a thousand cuts" routine (make em pay at least a little for everything). There is definitely evidence of them taking out various Russian tanks, planes and helicopters.
- Looks like Russia has sort of given up in Mariupol, sort of, or in there words "victory". They have decided not to try to take the giant steel mill there, which is well occupied by Ukrainians (it can clearly be seen below). Sounds like they want to starve them out. This is where those bombers (which may have caused a bit of a concern with NATO) dropped their bombs the other day.
https://www.denverpost.com/2022/04/21/putin-claims-victory-in-mariupol-despite-steel-mill-holdouts/
This is also an interesting historical point. For those that remember Stalingrad in WWII, one of the primary issues the Germans had was that the Russians where occupying a VERY large tractor factory in the city and got ground up trying to get them out.
Here is an image of the Stalingrad tractor factory:
frenchyd said:02Pilot said:In reply to Apexcarver :
Cynical, but not original. Check out Merchants of Death by Engelbrecht and Hanighen (1934). This mindset led directly to the US Neutrality Acts that limited our ability to assist Britain in the early days of WW2.
O2 Pilot.
The main force behind the US Neutrality act was Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh who agreed with Hitler and started the America first movement.
The America First Committee was formed in 1940. The first Neutrality Act was signed into law in 1935 (brief history here), and was much the product of the Nye Munitions Committee (1934-6). Among others, see Douglas Peifer's Choosing War: Presidential Decisions in the Maine, Lusitania, and Panay Incidents.
In reply to 02Pilot :
I've been a lurker/watcher for most of this thread but I wanted to thank you for your unbiased historical information. Ok back to watching you smart people talk.
Stampie said:In reply to 02Pilot :
I've been a lurker/watcher for most of this thread but I wanted to thank you for your unbiased historical information. Ok back to watching you smart people talk.
Quoting for emphasis.
VolvoHeretic said:In reply to aircooled :
On a lighter note, I think that I have discovered the true reason for all of the problems in eastern Europe and Russia. After looking at the map provided by aircooled, it's obvious that there is something messed up with their languages. I have never seen such long names ever and I thought that Spanish, French, and Italian had too many letters in their words. English has to be the simplest language to spit out (other than all of the French words inserted from the times that they had conquered the Brits). Ever notice how much longer sentences are in every other language on bilingual instructions and ingredients?
The recently retired commander of our ND National Guard was Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk who I think is of Ukrainian descent. Who has 13 letters in their last name? It takes me at least 5 tries to pronounce his name although you only pronounce about half of the letters. And only one vowel?
100% accurate.
It's amazing how I can navigate a German website or a Dutch website easy enough. Mrs. Hungary and I even did a 2-week road trip driving around Spain, no problem. I've never studied a single word of German or Dutch. I've only attended first year Spanish back in High School.
Meanwhile I've lived in Hungary for about 7 years now, off and on, and I couldn't "Hungarian" my way out of a wet paper bag...
Communicating mostly in four letter words.. I can relate.
A thought.
If "the rest of the world" put a ship convoy together and ran it up to the Avozstal Steel complex, would the Russians shoot at it?
Stampie said:In reply to 02Pilot :
I've been a lurker/watcher for most of this thread but I wanted to thank you for your unbiased historical information. Ok back to watching you smart people talk.
Happy to be of service.
Noddaz said:A thought.
If "the rest of the world" put a ship convoy together and ran it up to the Avozstal Steel complex, would the Russians shoot at it?
Yes. But the Turks aren't going to let warships through the Straits, so it's moot.
If you're envisioning a Dunkirk-like small boat evacuation, well, the nearest friendly ground is pretty far away.
I came across this 2017 assessment of Russian nuclear strategy that I thought might interest some here. I've only had a chance to skim it, but it seems to offer some useful insights. It is a bit dense, but then just about anything dealing with nuclear strategy is bound to be.
I have absolutely no idea how valid this is, but it passed my smell test in a brief read. I'll have to chew on it some more.
YMMV.
It's seems a bit "smelly" to me. It seems way to soft on the Russians. I will say though, it is still a good idea to not entirely trust the Ukrainians. O2 might have a better perspective on it.
I found this very interesting. Forgive the Reddit link, but I am not sure where the video came from. You can see some very suspicious movement by Putin. The comments below talk of potential Parkinson and LBD (what Robin Williams had). Of note is LBD can cause some pretty severe cognitive issues.
I was also going to point out the weird scene when Putin talks about "victory" in Mariupol. He is sitting at a very small table (perhaps picked up on the notes about the ridiculously large table he had been using) with a General and is instructing him not to take the steel works but just seal them off. A very strange and obviously staged setup. But to what end? It would guess it has a lot to do with claiming some "victory" (ignore those men in the rubble with guns).
Putin looks super uncomfortable in the exchange BTW and notice particularly the gripping of the table by his right hand, the same hand that is shaking in the video above. Also note the twitching thumb.
stroker said:I have absolutely no idea how valid this is, but it passed my smell test in a brief read. I'll have to chew on it some more.
YMMV.
Definitely an interesting read and does seem to provide a different perspective. I would agree much of what we are seeing in our media has been... curated... for maximum effect. In much the same way the media presents US domestic information in a way to keep you watching.
As with most complex situations, the "truth" likely lies somewhere in the middle.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:stroker said:I have absolutely no idea how valid this is, but it passed my smell test in a brief read. I'll have to chew on it some more.
YMMV.
Definitely an interesting read and does seem to provide a different perspective. I would agree much of what we are seeing in our media has been... curated... for maximum effect. In much the same way the media presents US domestic information in a way to keep you watching.
As with most complex situations, the "truth" likely lies somewhere in the middle.
I Googled the authors name and that same article has been published in a bunch of Left/Libertarian websites with some changes to text of the article itself.
I expected with a Swiss author it would have (at least what I would characterize as) a "left" slant. As I said, I hadn't really read it carefully but the part that prompted me to post it here was it claimed to document a bunch of "ethnic separatist" issues/history of which I was previously unaware. That sounded like a fairly important detail left out of the current narrative, if true.
Again, YMMV.
I don't know that I would consider it a "left" slant. Contrary to the situation as presented by the mass media? Yes. But "left"? I'm not really seeing that. Just because it paints a picture that some may be uncomfortable with seeing doesn't make it "left" or "right".
If the article is being posted on both Left and Libertarian websites, I would consider that interesting. Since those two groups have very little in common.
I would certainly call the article useful, if for nothing else, it provides a different perspective. My caution with it is that it sounds very similar to what the Russians are saying, and there is PLENTY of reasons not to trust what they say. As noted though, there is reason not to entirely trust what the Ukrainians are saying either. As far as the West and US, there should still certainly be caution, there is certainly more reason to trust, but they are not a close to that matter either (and will likely be getting some of their info from the Ukrainians).
I would also agree it is hard to assume opinions on these things based on US political slants. One important factor might of course is as you get to the extreme end of either "side", they start have a lot in common (the horseshoe concept)
I read the article and would did not pick up on a "Left" theme, I just thought it was interesting it was published on Left/Libertarian sites.
Monthly Review - Independent Socialist Magazine
Again, not trying to discount anything just pointing out something I thought was interesting. But like everyone is saying, both sides are playing the Propaganda game.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:If the article is being posted on both Left and Libertarian websites, I would consider that interesting. Since those two groups have very little in common.
I was actually wondering about that myself. Those two groups are rarely lumped together like that.
In reply to 02Pilot :
Almost the most amazing thing that's happened due to all this is the cooperation between the Turks and the Greeks. The Greeks are SO paranoid about the Turks. It was unbelievable to see when I lived there.
In reply to aircooled :
I can also imagine the Swiss having reasons to want the conflict to be resolved ASAP and could therefore push a more conciliatory tone. I would not be surprised if much of the frozen Russian assets are sitting in Swiss accounts and there are some strange financial rules preventing the Swiss from being able to do whatever it is they do with money sitting in Swiss bank accounts...
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