Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #6

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  • #681
  • #682
It's my opinion that the other authoritarian, tyrannical dictators of the world are closely watching how the democratic nations are handling the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Kim Jong-Un, Xi, the leaders of Iran and Venuzuela...what do they see? That the leaders of the free world have money and power, but obey the laws and principles laid down by contracts such as in NATO. That the free world is giving billions in aid, but will not cross the line of actually getting our countries involved. Which I do understand, from the point of view of our agreements to not fight in a war that is not directed at us.

And since we are run by democratically elected officials, not a one-man tyranny, and because we have Congress, Parliament and so on to prevent the presidents or prime ministers from imposing a unilateral decision to go to war, that our response to a war is necessarily slowed down by these constitutional formats. With which I also agree, this is the government we want. Of the people, by the people, for the people.

Yet, it's my belief that China's Xi, North Korea's Kim Jung-Un and others of their ilk are eyeballing their free neighbors, like Taiwan and South Korea, and carefully calculating what they can get away with now. The world's great democratic powers clearly won't cross the red line even when dictators do.

I'm a law-abiding citizen who is relieved to live in a country ruled by democratic law; but again IMO, lawless strongmen see that nothing is stopping Putin. What will stop them?

I'm too young to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, but there's an example of a dictator holding America's feet to the fire, even though Castro only ruled over a small, poor island. China is a superpower like Russia. North Korean citizens know very little of the outside world and consider Kim to be a god. Iran is an oil powerhouse. I truly fear what they can do if they expect little pushback from the free world.

Jmo

I read several books about Cuban missile crisis. It did start with NATO deploying new rockets in Turkey, and Khrushchev, swimming in the Black Sea, was grouchy, “how long will I have these rockets under my a@@?”

But - give or take, Khrushchev had been participating in the battle of Stalingrad. As a party man, but still. On the Soviet side, they didn’t want a war. They wanted parity. On the US side, Robert McNamara just formulated his doctrine. “Does it matter if USSR can destroy us five times, but we can destroy it seven times? One time is enough for both”.

So the world was put on the brink of the nuclear war by Cuban missile crisis, but be it old hardened party officials of USSR, or young talented men of JFK’s cabinet, both groups had sensibility, and the nightmare was avoided

The world has changed since that time. More and more nukes. Less and less sensibility.

I wonder, is Xi bluffing? Or did everyone, indeed, forget the McNamara doctrine?
 
  • #683
  • #684
You all deliver in a hurry. Thank you regarding Congress appearances!
 
  • #685
  • #686
March 14 2022
Ukraine's prime minister addresses Council of Europe – watch live
Local South Carolina woman helps her family flee Ukraine
Ukraine: CCTV footage shows residential building blast in Kyiv


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQ4O4_a_Mo
Russian oligarch puts million-dollar bounty on Vladimir Putin's head | 60 Minutes Australia
Mar 13, 2022
 
  • #687
  • #688
I wonder if this is part of the current negotiations? Just kind of came out of left field.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1503408954839347204?t=b0c16z8X9reyymdS55IUBg&s=19

⚡️Prosecutor General of #Ukraine Venediktova does not exclude the possibility to exchange of war prisoners with #Russia.

How does that work? Russia has shot everyone, including women and children. Did Russia take any war prisoners and, if so, what did they do - ship them to Russia as bargaining chips?
 
  • #689
I wonder what a newscaster has to do to get removed from the American nightly news? Granted the right to a free press is an important one. It's right up there with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness stuff.
AJMO

Kremlin memos urged Russian media to use Tucker Carlson clips – report

If the Kremlin decides to take news reports out of context, the newscaster is not reponsible for that, so why would anyone consider removing them from American nightly news? JMO.
 
  • #690
I'm just asking out of curiosity. What other leader of a country has addressed Congress?

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed a joint session of Congress at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner in 2011.
 
  • #691
  • #692
  • #693
  • #694
  • #695
How does that work? Russia has shot everyone, including women and children. Did Russia take any war prisoners and, if so, what did they do - ship them to Russia as bargaining chips?

Maybe they're in Belarus? Good question. JMO
 
  • #696
How does that work? Russia has shot everyone, including women and children. Did Russia take any war prisoners and, if so, what did they do - ship them to Russia as bargaining chips?
Russia did kidnap 2 mayors of different cities and installed Russia's own in their place. I don't know where they are held.
 
  • #697
Maybe this band's songs should be blasted at the Russians to remind them nobody will want to play there again until a ''Sandman'' helps P to fall asleep. imo.
When Metallica Took Moscow
March 10 2022
''As the post-Soviet era seems to come to a close — with Starbucks and Coca-Cola joining McDonald’s in shutting down their businesses in Russia, the regime cracking down on the remnants of the country’s free press, and sanctions cinching around the economy like a noose — other artifacts of that false dawn are circulating on social media. Perhaps none are as arresting as an absolutely massive concert that Metallica headlined in Moscow in 1991, mere months before the official collapse of the Soviet Union''

''What is “Enter Sandman” compared to the heady claims of national glory? Or, for that matter, a genuinely fair and equal society, which is what Russians wanted and deserved? Not a lot. But it’s not nothing, either. The tolerance for certain rights and privileges, the prevalence of western products and services, the sense that Russia was connected to the wider world — these all surely made the Putin regime more bearable, and their sudden disappearance will be felt as an imposition. It’s worth remembering that while the sound of freedom is no doubt different for everyone, for those Muscovites in 1991, it was this: “Exit light! Enter night!”
Metallica - Enter Sandman Live Moscow 1991 HD
 
  • #698
I read several books about Cuban missile crisis. It did start with NATO deploying new rockets in Turkey, and Khrushchev, swimming in the Black Sea, was grouchy, “how long will I have these rockets under my a@@?”

But - give or take, Khrushchev had been participating in the battle of Stalingrad. As a party man, but still. On the Soviet side, they didn’t want a war. They wanted parity. On the US side, Robert McNamara just formulated his doctrine. “Does it matter if USSR can destroy us five times, but we can destroy it seven times? One time is enough for both”.

So the world was put on the brink of the nuclear war by Cuban missile crisis, but be it old hardened party officials of USSR, or young talented men of JFK’s cabinet, both groups had sensibility, and the nightmare was avoided

The world has changed since that time. More and more nukes. Less and less sensibility.

I wonder, is Xi bluffing? Or did everyone, indeed, forget the McNamara doctrine?
Plus in 1962 it was only 17 years past the devastation, death and sickness caused by the atomic bombs dropped in 1945. It's 77 years gone now from that horror and 60 years from the threat. I'm old enough to remember the 1962 threat first hand but not the horror of 1945.

What amazes me is Putin and all his minions doing his bidding have lived through the Chernobyl disaster in their backyard but still threaten to unleash that same destruction by choice. I will never understand that, ever. AJMO

I think the world has gotten complacent
 
  • #699
March 14 2022
Facebook and Instagram users not allowed to call for death of Putin
''Facebook and Instagram users are not allowed to call for the death of Vladimir Putin, according to an update issued by their parent company.

Meta had issued new guidance on Friday allowing content that condoned the harm of Russian soldiers, with media reporting at the time that it also permitted content urging violence against the Russian president.


However, Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, has clarified the rules on posts, stating that “calls for the death of a head of state” are banned.

Clegg said in an internal post to staff on Sunday, first reported by Bloomberg, that the new moderation rule “is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general”.

He added: “We also do not permit calls to assassinate a head of state.”
Reuters reported last week that calls for the death of Putin, and his Belarusian counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko, would be allowed on Meta platforms in a limited number of countries, unless they contained other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method.

The posts would be permitted in countries in eastern Europe and the Caucasus including Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Poland, according to internal emails to Meta’s content moderators, Reuters said.''
 
  • #700
Maybe this band's songs should be blasted at the Russians to remind them nobody will want to play there again until a ''Sandman'' helps P to fall asleep. imo.
When Metallica Took Moscow
March 10 2022
''As the post-Soviet era seems to come to a close — with Starbucks and Coca-Cola joining McDonald’s in shutting down their businesses in Russia, the regime cracking down on the remnants of the country’s free press, and sanctions cinching around the economy like a noose — other artifacts of that false dawn are circulating on social media. Perhaps none are as arresting as an absolutely massive concert that Metallica headlined in Moscow in 1991, mere months before the official collapse of the Soviet Union''

''What is “Enter Sandman” compared to the heady claims of national glory? Or, for that matter, a genuinely fair and equal society, which is what Russians wanted and deserved? Not a lot. But it’s not nothing, either. The tolerance for certain rights and privileges, the prevalence of western products and services, the sense that Russia was connected to the wider world — these all surely made the Putin regime more bearable, and their sudden disappearance will be felt as an imposition. It’s worth remembering that while the sound of freedom is no doubt different for everyone, for those Muscovites in 1991, it was this: “Exit light! Enter night!”
Metallica - Enter Sandman Live Moscow 1991 HD

Oh yeas, it was 1.6 million people in the audience, I always get goosebumps watching it. I have to admit I am a Metallica fan and especially Kirk
 
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