rabas

3 hours ago, VBer said:

How do you see that? Withdrawal to the borders of 1991, including giving up Crimea? Do you think that its real?

Withdrawing to legally agreed on borders would be the right thing, wouldn't it?

Note, any reasonable Russian head of state, other than Putin's mafia, would have spent the last 20 years building Russia's economy and better relations with neighbors. Then Crimea wouldn't be an issue. Russia and Ukraine could use Crimea for mutual defense and benefit. Russia could even become a normal country mutually benefiting the world and its own citizens.

On 3/6/2024 at 1:34 AM, beautifulthailand99 said:

Well it's true continuing this war is just condemning 100s or thousands of young men on both sides to their slaughter. It's WW1 in 1915 not WW2 defeating Nazism. The weasel Lindsay Graham that praised Zelenskiy to his face and said this was a great deal for the US seems to have gone quiet recently. All of this was hugely predictable to anyone with half a brain which makes it all the more evil to me that the powers that be are so cynical and so calculating in the playing of the "Great Game". They must think we are stupid, but then most people are or are distracted or just too busy to figure it all out.

 

A few years back, my brother's family went to Ukraine for a city break - their taxi driver was quite knowledgable and took care of them for their stay. He mentioned that I a European was married to a Thai woman and expressed his displeasure that such a thing would happen. He said in our country we have a saying a cow shouldn't marry a horse.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrystia_Freeland

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McFaul

 

 

 

"Well it's true continuing this war is just condemning 100s or thousands of young men on both sides to their slaughter. "

Got that right. Putin can end it any day of the week he wants. End of story.

Meanwhile back at the Black Sea, Russia continues losing its mighty navy to a country without one along with many embarrassing defeats as Putin's undefeatable weapons goes down to superior western technology. 

I doubt defeating Russia is the goal, just Putin. Russian generals must be very weary watching their heavy strategic losses and their reputation sink with their ships. 

It was reported that Russian Military Headquarters recently discovered a spy camera, which they turned over to police to investigate. The police gave it to Putin's FSB who said it was theirs. Such is the love between Putin and his military. The military is proud of their history defending the homeland and want nothing to do with Putin's  bloody war of conquest.

On 2/27/2024 at 10:46 AM, gargamon said:

EV charging stations should be everywhere. And it should be pay as you go. I foresee the solution to be a number of charging stations on the periphery of the condos, not paid for by the condo association but some company that arranges and maintains the units. Kind of like the water dispensers that are everywhere.

 

Who wants to start a business? 

My condo is in talks with a company to install 5 charging stations in our outdoor parking area, which has some spare capacity. The condo will provide the electricity which we buy at a significant discount. The profit will be be shared between the charging company and the Condo, which will get the lion's share. 

So the condo association makes money, and, owners get on premises charging. The charging company will use internet marketing to advertise out location to maximize profit.

There has been some question of how many $300M A-50 AWACS planes Russia has left.

The correct answer is one functional and five not so functional any time soon or maybe never. Five are graveyard skeletons used for spare parts. Probably not much left in Russia's kleptocracy. I count 5 engines remaining out of 5 four-engine planes, and rust. [more info]

58 minutes ago, Hummin said:

So, how did this really turn out soon two years later? 

 

Was called out as Putin friendly and totally off the border. 

 

Is it still worth it? Have Ukrainians been used as a piece in a much bigger picture? 

 

What now when other conflicts escalating?

Ask how it's going for Putin. He's the huge problem in the room, always has been. 

Now is because we didn't do enough before. No other way with Putin. 

Breaking   Smashed!

Three more high end Russian planes shot down including Russia's next to last $300M AWACS plane. Keeping one for Ukraine leaves nothing to guard elsewhere. Surely some generals must start questioning the Ukraine war's value. Just don't stand near a window when you do.

28 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

It is the entire world. Especially those under 45. Absolutely obsessed with social media, selfies and taking photos of their food, and other things that do not mean anything. The world has lost touch with reality. 

 

We are no longer advancing as a species. Smartphones have insured that. 

Worse, we are advancing at an astronomical rate in directions we can't even imagine. 

Moreover, the just bolted AI onto it all, with no idea what AI will do. 

2 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

 

So on what end of the political spectrum would you say Navalny tends to be, based on his numerous far right and xenophobic statements?

 

In videos from 2007, Navalny likened militants in Chechnya to cockroaches and espoused deporting migrants, saying, "We have the right to be Russian in Russia and we will defend that right."
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AP1BG/

Why don't you base it on his current activities and not some 20 year old episode?

Well near current, seeing Putin just killed him.

Just now, rattlesnake said:

 

Please explain why you believe Statista is not a reliable source.

Didn't say that. Statistica is asking for a membership before revealing the source. I thought you would know.

Why it matters.  Russian's have lived in fear of speaking their mind for a hundred years. It's worse under window man Putin. A random phone call from nowhere won't get an honest answer. You will only get the official state line. 

Russians I've known 20+ years will never talk about Putin politics over the phone if they are calling from inside Russia. You think they would answer a random unknown call and say "Yeah, love Navalny, great guy"? 

4 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

 

Statista is a German platform which has a solid reputation in terms of reliability.

Again. Do you know the source of the survey data that concluded no one liked Navalny?  Statistica is not showing a source. How was the survey performed?

1 hour ago, rattlesnake said:

 

White nationalist Navalny was jailed because he was a convicted crook.

 

A bit of context:

 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1201958/attitude-toward-activity-of-alexei-navalny-by-age-russia/

Most Russians in every age group did not approve of the political activity of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, as of February 2022.

A survey about something in Russia? Do you know the source?

2 hours ago, johng said:

It can become a prosperous economy using its commodities which are in demand worldwide.

IMHO  first world economies reliant on  fractional reserve banking, ponzi scheme stock markets and a vote that means virtually nothing as there is no difference between the candidates are no better than a kleptocracy anyway.

Why isn't it?  Because Putin...

Putin took a perfectly failed state, the USSR, and ruined it. They can't even win a war because of so much corruption. Putin's unstoppable missiles keep getting shot down, his impenetrable air defense systems keep getting penetrated. [watch Putin]. 

As for your Ponsi scheme sound byte, the US far exceeds Russia in oil production, now 13M to 9.5M bbl/day. Natural gas by even more. I already mentioned the golden economic goose, R&D, where no.1 US far exceeds Russia by a whopping 20 times. Why? Putin. He locks up scientists because he doesn't trust them.

Russia's hallowed space program? Far behind and falling. Why? You got it, Putin. Corruption. In 2023  Russia is now 5th worldwide in launched objects, 30 times behind the US. [ref] Your ponzi scheme US launched 81% of all the world's satellites. 

I too would love to see a strong, free Russia. Best thing for the world. Would you join me in calling for a Putin free Russia so that it can happen?  

2 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Production-based capitalism vs. speculation-based capitalism. The latter is at the heart of all the world's woes.

You missed the heart of capitalism, R&D, which leads to vast global production of useful products and services. The US spends nearly $700 billion on R&D each year, [ref] almost 20 times more than Putin's Russia. Per capita, Thailand outspends Russia on R&D by almost 20%.  R&D, my background, is a form of speculation.

Sorry to mention Russia, just trying to get back on topic.

37 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Somber truth: The invasion of Ukraine is pretty much the same as the illegal invasion of Iraq, a 'war of aggression'.

False and further off topic.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a true War of Conquest with the stated and now codified aim of territorial conquest and ownership. Such wars are rare since the World War 2 era. The Iraq war was not a war of territorial conquest. The only war of conquest involving Iraq may have been its invasion of Kuwait in an attempt to control and destabilize oil prices. 

Stop running guard for despot Putin. 

45 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/04/19/whats-perfectly-round-made-of-metal-and-keeping-russia-from-replacing-the-2000-tanks-its-lost-in-ukraine/?sh=6f63685f23f2

 

Good luck making ball bearings in Russia.

One of many Russian failures. Western technology is supported by a vast underlying industrial pyramid that Russia lacks because Putin's economy supports oligarchs and weapons over people.

The old USSR also lacked high precision ball bearings, which were key to Western superior ballistic missile accuracy. 

And the beat goes on.  As Putin threatens to nuke western satellites, Western technology advances to circumvent GPS by putting large atomic-beam clocks in a one inch cube ideal for even the smallest missiles and drones. [reference] 

A successful Russian future requires ousting Putin and handing power to the good Russian people, what Navalny was fighting for in his own way.

49 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

What Sanger says is that Wikipedia is not an objective outlet and overwhelmingly leans towards the political views of those who run it. Based on this premise, it is not a valid source to be quoted as fact.

I am sorry for Navalny, his wife and children. But as always, I am wary of simplistic dichotomies and am aware of the nuances and gray areas of someone who is clearly a very dubious character.

And I can only laugh cynically at the hypocrisy of those who hail him as a hero because the media says that is how it is, but will readily turn a blind eye to Julian Assange who is facing the same fate in the UK and USA, which are of course incredibly democratic countries without a drop of blood on their hands.

It's Russians claiming Navalny is a hero. Did you see the mass rally in Georgia? Mostly Russians.

The only link between Navalny and Assange is that Assange was functionally a Putin stooge. Had Assange released information only related to wrongdoing, not mass information damaging legitimate US interests, I might consider him a hero too. 

I doubt Navalny and Assange would like each other. OTH, Navalny was friends with Garry Kasparov, a truly brilliant Russian who also works tirelessly to expose Putin and save his country. Kasparov is in exile in part because he too tried to run for office. Putin would probably kill him if he could. 

Here is Kasperov on why Putin killed Navalny. If you really want to understand Russia, Putin, and the threat to the West, start here. If you don't trust media, you need to listen to folks like Kasperov.