Leaving false strength conventions behind
https://www.exodus-strength.com/forum/
I feel there's some good SS/BBM memes that could be crafted with that bridge being blown up.
That was good. Also, in keeping with that article, you should watch this video of the President of Tajikistan talking to Putin. It's really remarkable - I worked in Tajikistan for a while a decade and a half ago, and all I ever saw was Rahmon being obsequious around any Russian dignitary. There's a real change in the air. Blood is in the water.quikky wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 5:28 pm This is pretty good: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/central- ... viet-order
Oh yeah, that's another good one. There are so many examples now of how the attitudes towards Putin have changed. It's actually amazing. I mean even within Ukraine, Zelensky back in March was asking Putin to talk to him man to man and try and end the war. Have you seen Zelensky's latest about that? He said he will talk to Russia's president... But not the current one. Flat out said he's done with Putin. This could have only been imagined in an alternate reality even 6 months ago.omaniphil wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 5:49 pmThat was good. Also, in keeping with that article, you should watch this video of the President of Tajikistan talking to Putin. It's really remarkable - I worked in Tajikistan for a while a decade and a half ago, and all I ever saw was Rahmon being obsequious around any Russian dignitary. There's a real change in the air. Blood is in the water.quikky wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 5:28 pm This is pretty good: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/central- ... viet-order
A famous US naval aviator said, it's not the plane it's the pilot.Hiphopapotamus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:14 pmI think Russia has something like 1,200 fixed wing aircraft and have lost 40/50 or so? Numbers* haven't really been a problem, they just haven't been able to operate in defended airspace without getting immediately shot down so they've mostly been lobbing standoff munitions from Russian or Belarusian airspace.
I'm curious how much this recent tantrum has further depleted their stocks of cruise missiles, of which they had already burned a good amount.
*Number of aircraft, that is. Numbers of competent pilots may be another matter..
IDK about that in this case (case being russia's awesome airforce)mikeylikey wrote: ↑Mon Oct 17, 2022 9:57 amA famous US naval aviator said, it's not the plane it's the pilot.Hiphopapotamus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:14 pmI think Russia has something like 1,200 fixed wing aircraft and have lost 40/50 or so? Numbers* haven't really been a problem, they just haven't been able to operate in defended airspace without getting immediately shot down so they've mostly been lobbing standoff munitions from Russian or Belarusian airspace.
I'm curious how much this recent tantrum has further depleted their stocks of cruise missiles, of which they had already burned a good amount.
*Number of aircraft, that is. Numbers of competent pilots may be another matter..
Why?
BostonRugger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 8:48 am
Strong opinion bc in the back of my mind somewhere I conflate them (somewhat rightly) with the Council on Foreign Relations. Still fine with them being disbanded forcefully. Staffed by people who hop back and forth between there and roles at State Dept, they exist to carry out the agenda of one while under the non-governmental banner of the other. These days AC also has a role within the gov/ngo/tech opinion making apparatus that uses "anti-misinformation" as a cover.
That TV thing he Russians did just before the withdrawal was weird as hell. I don't know what they're up to, but something is a little fishy.
My hot take is they retreated so they could nuke the city.Hardartery wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:00 pmThat TV thing he Russians did just before the withdrawal was weird as hell. I don't know what they're up to, but something is a little fishy.
dw wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:10 ammikeylikey wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 10:46 amI am extremely skeptical that increasing the amount of violence in any given situation can create less net suffering. The Ukraine situation, I THINK, is probably a counterexample. An extremely rare counterexample which in no way diminishes my confidence in non-intervention as the correct default position.dw wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:52 ammikeylikey wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 7:53 amStay out of it and let people work out their own destiny?
LOL, I kid, I kid.
You're against our military assistance to Ukraine then I presume?
In the long run if it does turn out to have been the right thing to do I fear that will incorrectly encourage us to do so in the many far more typical future cases where it will only tend to make things worse.
"Increasing the amount of violence" is an odd formulation, because it treats violence as a homogeneous and additive quantity when in fact it is neither. Is self-defense "increasing violence"? Is deterrence by violence decreasing violence? Is successful imperialism like the Pax Romana increasing or decreasing violence?
And for that matter there are many forms of suffering, some owing more to peace than war.
And this is why I was skeptical:mikeylikey wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 5:31 amI know. That was intentional. Other things being equal, sending guns, troops, intelligence, money, etc. to one or both parties to a war increases the amount of violence right now. Obviously, we wouldn't do it if we didn't believe there would be some ultimate benefit later on.
Are there lots of various dynamics, 2nd order, 3rd order etc consequences to consider? Yes that's kindof my point.
If we look at the most closely analogous situations, historically, America's interventions in modern wars (say post WWII) have neither improved our situation nor the people we were trying to help.
As I said, Ukraine looks like it is an exception to that pattern, and right now, realizing it's still ongoing and we don't know the eventual outcome, I agree with what we're doing to help them.
Then again, we think that every time or we wouldn't do it.
Hardartery wrote: ↑Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:51 pm Russian missile strike in Poland, unofficially two killed. Source of strike is "Unconfirmed". This could get ugly fast.