Putin's war

Not everyone understands such subtle humour, I know from own experiences.

That’s idiotic, Walter. I’m obviously pro-Ukraine.

But, I’m not well-read at all about German politics. Are you unable to answer the questions I asked you?

Jesus Christ. There are so many moving parts—I’m taking everything seriously. Apologies.

I’ll banish myself from the thread for 45 minutes as penance.

The photo was Laschet, the former prime minister of my homestate, who made one of his stupid laughs (that time when the federal president made the speech for the victims of the flood disaster. (What finally ended his chance of becoming federal chancellor.)

We have a few laws on the export of war weapons and other military equipment. But there are exceptions. And apparently the Greens have now also agreed as a coalition partner.

The EU has scheduled a special meeting of its foreign ministers for Sunday evening. Various media report that the decision to exclude Russia from the Swift payment system will most probably be taken at the video conference.

No it ain't true and you know it or should!

Ukraine is a prairie where every army has passed in the past to get into Russia!
Why is NATO expanding to Ukraine? That is the question no one is asking... Because we want to weaken Russia and make them spend a fortune on the Ukraine border and asphyxiate their economy to concentrate on the main adversary which is China!

This is the truth that any thinking person knows but cannot say publicly!

It is true that is in the interest of Europe my own continent and the West at large to weaken Russia but I won't lie about it!

Uranians were naive thinking their situation was similar to other eastern countries that got in to NATO! Who's fault is this? No doubts the West dangling a carrot on Ukrainian people!

I hate Putin, he is an awful dictator, an authoritarian kleptocrat but he has a point period!

Just imagine a nation in between Canada and the US which was part of a Russia military coalition with a prairie at the doors of USA...Cuba missile crisis almost started 3th world war way back at the Kennedy administration!...

I am appalled everywhere I look on how dumb fucked retarded people are and so easy to manipulate by media!
We do live indeed in the day an age of disinformation!

The commentary here regarding short & long term strategy, brought to mind an almost forgotten story that bears on the issue.

Once long ago in Mesopotamian Baghdad, three adventurous and bold young thieves robbed the tent and quarters of a travelling Sultan enroute to a nearby city, taking gold coins, jewels, and several valuable horses. They were soon apprehended by the sultan's men, and brought before the now angry Sultan for trial and disposition. The Sultan quickly and without discussion condemned them to death by decapitation, and, somewhat vindictively, directed that they be confined for the night to, as the Sultan said, 'contemplate their evil deeds and that fate that awaited them'.

One of the three, a particularly alert and inventive man named Ahmed, spoke up to the Sultan saying , "Sultan I regret my evil deeds and respect your authority and the retribution you have directed. However I am a man of truly unusual talents, and if you will but spare my life for a year, I will teach that beautiful white Stallion we so foolishly took .. to talk. He will then become a continuing source of wonder for all, and esteem for you." "Done," said the Sultan with a contemptuous sneer, " You will have your year, and with it, ample time to contemplate the truly horrible death that awaits you when you fail". He then dismissed them with a scornful smile.

That night in the tent where they were confined, Ahmed's companions asked him why he made such an outrageous promise, and now, while they will in the morning face a swift and hopefully painless death at the stroke of a sword, he chose year in contemplation of a far worse fate at the year's end.

Ahmed replied, " A year is a long time... In a year I might die; the Sultan might die, or …. the ******* horse might talk."

The sources in question are well known and proven. The oil in question is being produced now by Russia, and ours will merely replace it.

The pace of the elimination of petroleum consumption will be determined by our success in developing cleaner and hopefully more efficient & less costly alternatives, and not by forced actions to restrict production. Some short-sighted zealots seek to force the elimination of existing sources of energy, without either the availability of, or even a coherent plan for the development of efficient alternatives, and do so without considering the force and tyranny required to forcibly accomplish that, or even the likelihood of succeeding at it.

In stark contrast the U.S. recently used enhanced natural gas production, and relatively cheap and efficient gas turbine plants to quickly and voluntarily replace well over 1/3rd of our Electrical power, formerly produced in coal fired plants. This was done quickly and voluntarily without any government coercion or costly bureaucratic interference. In the process we reduced our GHG emissions (both relatively and in absolute quantity) that did any signatory of the Rome treaty in that period.

That is the correct model for future advances. It is far superior to taxes on current consumption and government subsidized production of power sources chosen and supervised supervision by inept and unaccountable bureaucracies.

he putin lives in danger

Ukraine has control of over 200 ICBMs each with multiple nuke warheads.
"Going NUKE" seems to me to be a minset that may be employed by the losing side of this invasion.

I believe that Ukraine transferred all of their then very large stored of former Soviet made nukes a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union in a joint agreement facilitated by the U.S.

At a time when there was no Russian State - only a few Viking Traders up North in Nizhny Novgorod

As far as we know Ukraine has no Nuke's...but even if it did it could never admit to have them and much less dream of using them. So for all intents and purposes those are "ghosts"!

Walter, I’m curious.

Do you support Germany’s assistance to Ukraine?

Any other opinions are also welcomed. Just checking out everyone’s opinions.

My opinion flies in the face of my anti-war preference. I’m extremely conflicted. I didn’t and don’t want this aggression to expand, but I can hardly bear a Russian victory against Ukraine.

I feel like a tool of my country’s military industrial complex. I’d like to know where other people stand.

I can’t decide what I’m more fascinated by—how this guy discovered his info or how you found this guy.

Again, you throw out a few rather insipid factoids and a few unsupported conclusions from the sidelines before going into your predictable spiel. One gets the sense that you've assembled these good, old-fashioned, family-friendly energy sector factoids in service of an ulterior motive. And, sure enough, you show your hand in the last paragraph! It's just more boilerplate right-wing economic talking points. You simply repeat them, mantra-like, whether or not they're germane to anything. Your whole economic system is unraveling and you're crying about taxes and whining about "unaccountable bureaucracies".


Yeah – if we choose to ignore the increasing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere. I mean, really, how the hell do you know what this Stalinist-sounding "correct model" for the future is? Why are you in the position to label others as "short-sighted zealots" when your pro-growth, consumption-based economy is threatened worldwide by supply-chain issues, inflation, inequality, and industrial pollution severe enough to affect not only the weather but the global climate as well? You don't have a clue as to what we will be facing a decade from now, but you're pushing the same old tired economic philosophy which got us to where we are today. I repeat, you don't have a clue as to what we will be facing a decade from now. And neither does anyone else.

Today I've been reading Facebook comments from other retired colleagues about the situation in the Ukraine. One individual printed the following: "We're going to spend a couple of days next week with some of Gail's Ukrainian cousins I discovered through years of genealogy research. Their families have been destroyed over the last 120 years that I can document. I'm guessing more might be now. I've always hated wars. Bad people die (that's ok); good people die, innocent women, children and old men die (that's not ok). Yes, it sucks for everyone in Ukraine. And in all the countries that will have to accept their refugees from the terror of war."

This was just a mention of the situation from one of my former colleagues, we were all part of what Donald Trump likes to call the "Deep State", the people who actually collect the information and try to keep leadership informed. My friend's mention of long term abuse is not new, it's been going on forever......we worked with people whose parents were tormented and killed during WWII, none of this information is new. It's just new to pig-headed historically ignorant newbies who wonder what the big problem is....it's only one country, why can't Russia have it. I'm so sick of listening to people who seem to think history is a mere information distraction from living happy in our brand new world.

It is a bit sad to note how some people, confronted with arguments they are unable to refute, or even confront, so often resort to angry personal attacks and name-calling.

It is also a bit amusing to observe a dedicated consumer of AGW zealotry, who unarmed with scientific experience, appears to take literally long range global predictions on the future state of natural phenomena, known to be chaotic, subject to sensitive dependence on initial conditions, and quite unpredictable. Then, suddenly when confronted with arguments he can't deal with, assert that no one can predict political or economic events even 10 years into the future!