War

These guys need to make it through the 20th century before they are ready for the current one! Even Briton was trying to shed itself of empire well before WW2, since it is incompatible with liberal democracy and inconsistent with the rule of law and equality under it. FDR and Truman did not need to push hard to end British colonialism, in fact America wanted to slow decolonization down, because of the cold war threat until more stable governments could be established.

They are still living in the age of empires and so is another emperor, Xi in China. It illustrates Russia's fundamental problem and why it can't be a liberal democracy and hold together as it is currently configured. The secret police have held the empire together for centuries and Vlad is the latest incarnation of an old tradition and way of doing imperial politics. The world has changed and moved on, but Russia cannot, Vlad is Stalin's heir and he cast a long shadow over the former Soviet Union. His ghost still haunts Russia, but not other former republics who went liberal democratic or are trying to.

DIY-HP-LED said:

These guys need to make it through the 20th century before they are ready for the current one! Even Briton was trying to shed itself of empire well before WW2, since it is incompatible with liberal democracy and inconsistent with the rule of law and equality under it. FDR and Truman did not need to push hard to end British colonialism, in fact America wanted to slow decolonization down, because of the cold war threat until more stable governments could be established.

They are still living in the age of empires and so is another emperor, Xi in China. It illustrates Russia's fundamental problem and why it can't be a liberal democracy and hold together as it is currently configured. The secret police have held the empire together for centuries and Vlad is the latest incarnation of an old tradition and way of doing imperial politics. The world has changed and moved on, but Russia cannot, Vlad is Stalin's heir and he cast a long shadow over the former Soviet Union. His ghost still haunts Russia, but not other former republics who went liberal democratic or are trying to.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597089807171485696

Click to expand...

And there you have the primary problem with russia...They expect to always be conquering someone, it's the only way an aggressive, expansionist, fascist state can survive, especially one run by the remnants of the kgb and the russian mafia, who will constantly siphon off most of the states assets for their personal use. The only way this can end is the disolution of the russian state, and the liberation of the nation states currently under their thumb. If the russian state as it is, is allowed to continue to exist, every 5 to 10 years we will have to go back and beat them back into submission, they will NEVER peacefully coexist with their neighbors.

I suspect that a prime reason Britain abandoned empire was that it had become too expensive to maintain. The war brought them near ruin in any case.

cannabineer said:

I suspect that a prime reason Britain abandoned empire was that it had become too expensive to maintain. The war brought them near ruin in any case.

Click to expand...

It became a burden and not a boon and the global economic system changed, the arch imperialist and last lion Churchill signed the Empires death warrant with the Atlantic charter with FDR before America entered the war. The right to self-determination was signed in sight of my parent's home at the time in outport Newfoundland. That later evolved into the UN as more allies joined up with the governments in exile in Briton and North America.

DIY-HP-LED said:

It became a burden and not a boon and the global economic system changed, the arch imperialist and last lion Churchill signed the Empires death warrant with the Atlantic charter with FDR before America entered the war. The right to self-determination was signed in sight of my parent's home at the time in outport Newfoundland. That later evolved into the UN as more allies joined up with the governments in exile in Brition and North America.

Click to expand...

*Britain

Hope they set up decoys and fortified those replacement transformers, the bigger the unit the more sandbags around it and the higher they go above the berms! In wintertime they can even be put in buildings temporarily and a dummy decoy set up in the usual spot. Too bad they couldn't reach out and touch a few of these guys!

Sending a message, they want Vlad gone and Russia reduced in economic power and military might for a long time. They want the map of Europe to change, and it won't end with Ukraine, Belarus could be the next domino to fall. In the time it takes for Russia to get back on its feet, political change and dissolution could happen in Russia. When they do get back on their feet, they will be staring down a prosperous and well-armed Ukraine that will not hesitate to swat them if they are still assholes and getting unruly. If the Europeans, see signs of them still being assholes and rearming they will be ready for them too. Over time the sanctions will get tighter, and their supplies of western tech will dry up, but some technologies are ubiquitous and will be hard to control.

Why not, they have lots of Russian shit and might even be relining the barrels and doing proper maintenance on them. If they are using Russian artillery, they are probably maintaining it, unlike the Russians. Places like Poland and Germany can supply the barrel liners or even rebuild the guns for them. To make a shell you need the round stock and a lathe, it shouldn't be hard to do, even if they forged it and rolled steel is just as good.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

war was so much simpler when you just bombed the fuck out of your enemies country and then planted a flag on top of the detritus...
Ukrainians have to sit in the dark and suffer the bombing of the russians, so they don't unite the russians against them, because they might...bomb them more...with unity...amazing that the russians can fire high enough to hit that moral high ground the Ukrainians are sheltering on...i'm sure any survivors will be proud of the moral superiority of all those dead Ukrainians...

Click to expand...

It is fighting smart as printer said, it would inflame the Russians and give them justification while fueling their propaganda. The drafted might not leave the country and those who did might return with the motherland under attack. Such attacks will not work and will cause them to unite around the leadership, they don't work in Ukraine, instead they make civilians feel like part of the fight and bond them to the army and government even more. Tribalism is a powerful social force, and it happens when you are attacked or face other challenges, we unite and organize under hierarchal leadership. Ukraine is full on tribal now and Russia is kinda not and apathetic, we want to keep it that way. What else has Putin been doing other than try to light a fire under their arses?

Then there is 300 billion in Euros that the EU is holding and potential international litigation over it, especially for the US, as a reserve currency to get the Russian government money, private sanctioned oligarch cash can be taken with them being declared state sponsors of terrorism. There is Russian money in the UK too, one of the reasons the Tories and Boris did Brexit was because they were rolling in Russian money and there are pesky EU banking regulations etc. Legal processes must be followed and as far as I know Russia would have no counter war crimes claims to make. In wars both sides often commit atrocities and then the international legal system tends to wash their hands of both sides when it comes to reparations.

The Ukrainians are getting a lot of military, civilian and grid repair resources from allies and that gives them a say in somethings. So far Zelenskiy has played his international liberal democratic cards perfectly and has gathered the maximum aid possible for his country and it is instrumental in winning this war. The military is doing an excellent job with what they've been given, and the government appears to be running like an actual well-oiled machine in all areas.

Unbelievable scenes' in China as protesters speak out against zero-Covid policy

95,163 views Nov 28, 2022
Protesters have taken to the streets across China after years of the government's zero-Covid policy have left citizens feeling desperate. CNN's Selina Wang reports from China.

DIY-HP-LED said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597232685118009346

Click to expand...

I don't know about Iran but China built enough prison space to house protesters in great numbers.

Fogdog said:

I don't know about Iran but China built enough prison space to house protesters in great numbers.

Click to expand...

looks like a LOT of arrests, hope the rest of the country can get by with 10% or so of them locked up...and the other 90% still fucking pissed.
Xi is old, and so is his hand picked successor. with any luck both of them will die off in the next decade, and someone able to see the writing all over those blank pieces of paper will get into power.

Sort of an online version of the Onion...

With winter they should be worried and if it wasn't for certain international laws and other factors, their lights could be out in Moscow for the entire winter too.

DIY-HP-LED said:

With winter they should be worried and if it wasn't for certain international laws and other factors, their lights could be out in Moscow for the entire winter too.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597465482592153601

Click to expand...

they should

DIY-HP-LED said:

Sort of an online version of the Onion...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597336780763811840

Click to expand...

the statue should have been shooting a pregnant Ukrainian woman, while raping an old Ukrainian lady...fuck russia

DIY-HP-LED said:

With winter they should be worried and if it wasn't for certain international laws and other factors, their lights could be out in Moscow for the entire winter too.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1597465482592153601

Click to expand...

the next line on that video caption should be "and shove it up our asses."