jas007

I already explained this several times. I don't give Russia "a pass." My point is now and always has been that, at this point, that's all history and doesn't matter. The parties are at a point where the war is escalating, nuclear threats are being made, and if there isn't some agreement reached, matters could escalate terribly. And one fine morning you'll roll out of bed, turn on the news, if your electric grid is still up and some news is available, and see that several European cities have been reduced to ashes. Millions and millions of people dead. Millions more dead in the coming weeks. And if things go global, the end of life as we know it. So tell me, how does trying to place "blame" matter to the resolution of this mess? It doesn't. It may play some part in determinging whatever settlement is negotiated, along with the bargaining powers of the participants, but to get to that point you have to have diplomacy. Escalating threats and launching rockets is the wrong way to go. Of course, you may think that destroying the lives of millions or billions of people is just fine, so long as you can prove your point, that it's all Russia's fault. I disagree. Humanity is too valuable to end it based on a delusional Neocon fantasy that's responsible for failure after failure after failure. You lost this argument a long time ago and just don't know it. I guess that's because you have no argument.

Like it or not, I think people are going to have to get used to all the facial recognition stuff. It's everywhere. Even my condo has it. By the time I reach the door of my building, the system already knows it's me and my picture pops up on the screen and it lets me in. Just the other day I read about some students who made an app to use with the META smart glasses. A person wearing the glasses and using the app could see the faces of those he was looking at, and get information about that person. Spooky. In China, I think, people are already going around with masks on to keep from being recognized by the cameras. In the UK, there are people going around trying to cut down all the cameras that have been installed.

Again, either you don't understand what I've already explained, you don't understand international relations and geopolitics, or you don't understand the real world. Repeating Neocon nonsense is not helping you win any argument if that's all you have. Or else you're just a troll. Anyway, I can't provide you with an education on a Thailand message board. If you want to try to grasp how it all works, try reading up on Western hegemony and its current fading influence. Try to understand why that's a problem for some, and then read up on the implications of a multi-polar world. Read up on BRICS and that emerging legal framework to establish some order among the member nations. Much of the world, in case you don't realize that. Read about the various treaties and international organizations that were created in an effort to establish and maintain a rule based order in the world. For example, the UN was established by way of a treaty. All of the international organizations were established by way of a treaty. There are a lot of those. The WHO, the World Bank, the International Labor Organization, etc. A very long list. Once you grasp all that, you will see that, through diplomacy, countries have attempted to piece together a framework for existence. The "rules based international order." It exists today. It's a real thing. Once you begin to understand that basic concept, then look into how countries don't always act in accordance with international law. Instead, they go to war if they feels that's necessary to defend one of their core national interests. They use their military and have a "so what" attitude on the international understandings. This happens all too frequently. The US has been a flagrant violator in recent times, although the US isn't alone. The Iraq war. Grenada in 1983. Panama, 1989. I could go on. Anyway, countries don't always comply with the established international order. If they did, we wouldn't have all the military conflicts that are currently raging around the world. The" territorial nation state" still exists. If wars start and escalate, the sensible solution is to use diplomacy to settle the differences so that both parties can once again exist within a recognized framework. Today, the fighting in Ukraine needs to stop before the war escalates into WWIII and the annihilation of the human species. Diplomacy is the established way to achieve that.

The Biden administration fought for four years to let as many people into the country as possible. Many just crossed the river and walked in. Remember when they were having a fight with Texas over razor wire and other barriers Texas was trying to install to stop the flow? Anyway, the current wave on people entering the country from the souther border is unprecedented. Trump has his hands fill if he's going to try to reverse the process.

And that's the problem. They made it easy to seek asylum. Anybody can do it with an app. And then they're given a court date which will likely be years in the future. Of course, most of those will never show up. I know more about the stuff than you think I do.

Do you not have a television? All those people have to do is show up and walk across the border. The Biden administration even developed an app that people can download so that they can apply for asylum before they even arrive. When they cross, they show the application they filled out, they are given a court date, and they're let loose.

I guess that's me. I have pretty good sources, though. It's you who doesn't know what you're talking about. Why do YOU think they opened the border to let millions of unvetted people just walk in? Because they like people with no skills and criminals?

Don't they already take your picture when you enter the country? Anyway, why not, if it makes for a smoother process at the airport? I've seen this at work in the Seoul Korea airport at the Delta check-in. Look at the camera and your passport picture pops up.

A few possible reasons, or a combination of them all: The left thinks they can swing future elections in their favor by importing millions of new "voters." They do this by shipping them to Blue States, most of which have no voter ID law. Also, those people count in determining the number of representatives in congress and more electoral votes. Also, women aren't having babies like they used to, and the country needs a new batch of slave labor to do all the dirty work. Pick crops, wash dishes, or otherwise work for peanuts. Of course, the elite benefit from this - their status at the top can be maintained a while longer before the system collapses. Or, maybe they know something about how many people will be dying off as the result of the COVID jabs?

It helps to take a flight that leaves late at night so you're already sleepy when you get on the plane. Mostly, I don't worry about it. Sometimes I can sleep, sometimes I can't, in which case I just watch movies. I travel from the USA, so the flights are always long. Total flying time including any layovers can be 25 hours or more. Thai Air used to have non-stop flights that were about 17 hours, but those were stopped years ago. I didn't mind those in Premium Economy. One time I met a girl at the check in line at the airport and talked to her for a while. She was in my section, but after we boarded the plane, I didn't see her again for the entire flight until the baggage claim area. She said she had taken some Xanax pills before the flight, and those had zonked her out for the entire flight.

The world is a messy place. Wars are messy. Geopolitics is a power game. It always has been, and it always will be. And for a long time, diplomats have been a necessary part of maintaining peace within a framework of international law, treaties, and negotiated settlements. A rules based order, as they say. It exists for a reason. It's obvious you don't understand diplomacy. When agreements are reached by way of diplomacy, such agreements become a legally supported resolution to, for example, a territorial dispute. The sovereignty of both parties is maintained. That's the important distinction. It's an agreement made within a legal framework. On the other hand, if a sovereign nation cedes territory simply because they've been confronted with brute force, that sets the stage for more conflict. It becomes a never ending cycle. With a diplomatic agreement, there's some chance that the peace will be maintained.

Yep. It's not convenient to hot wire anything directly into the router, so I just use the wi-fi.

This isn't really what I saw the other day. Just what I could find in one minute. I'll keep looking for what I saw.

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm doing good. Anyway, people can think whatever they want. It doesn't matter.

I have TMN fiber in my condo. I also use Nord VPN which I can turn on and off. There's also a 5gb router installed in the room, and that's how I access the internet. I pay for 500 down and 200 up, and that's what I get if I connect without the VPN. Even with the VPN I sometimes get that, but not always. I just ran a Speed Test on my desktop with the VPN on 269 down, 69 up. Usually, it's a lot faster. Anyway, for reasons I won't go into here, the router in my condo also puts out a regular wi-fi signal, not 5g. My Apple TV connects to that as it seems to be more reliable that way. I have Norton on my Apple TV and my download speed without using the 6G are only in the 50 mbs range. Still, that's usually enough for any streaming service without buffering. So if your unit is buffering a lot and hanging up while it does, I'd probably blame your equipment. Something is not right.

OK. Apparently, the agreement actually existed at one point, according to multiple sources. Russian Media, and the US propaganda publications Foreign Affairs and the New York Tines. I'll post some links, if that's allowed. Otherwise, people can surely look it up themselves. The Sputnik article has la link to what was published in The NY Times. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240615/nyt-claims-to-reveal-2022-russia-ukraine-peace-drafts-key-details-and-missed-opportunities-1118975487.html?ysclid=m4102jrc4q895864198 Also, From the US publication Foreign Affairs in 2022. I wasn't able to obtain a link. Maybe people can find it. It's a lengthy article, but towards the end the article references observations by "senior Administration officials" about the agreement and why it was scuttled. So, pick which propaganda you want to believe. But both sides seem to agree that there was a tentative agreement. The World Putin Wants How Distortions About the Past Feed Delusions About the Future By Fiona Hill and Angela Stent September/October 2022

Of course it wouldn't be "all over" the mainstream press and TV. Those media platforms are all part of the same propaganda machine. They don't necessarily report the news anymore. They report what they want people to hear. There's quite a difference. Anyway, if I see it again, I'll post a link.

Most of them don't understand. They've been well and truly brainwashed by the mainstream propaganda machines, and that's the extent of their understanding. Furthermore, most of them live in an echo chamber. They hear the "narrative" repeated time and again, and that's all they know. So they regurgitate the "narrative."

Wow. I can't believe this is seriously a thing. I'd find another hospital.

Why don't your forget about this discussion for now and go study up on the history of diplomacy, why it's important, why it works well, and what it means when diplomats reach agreements.

I'm pretty sure I saw an initialed copy of the proposed agreement online sometime recently. I read all sorts of stuff, so no telling where I saw it.

You miss my point, I'm afraid. My point is that this conflict is now at an impasse of sorts. What is needed is diplomacy, not more escalation, not more threats.. What's needed is a negotiated settlement. That kind of outcome does not "cede" anything to Russia. That's the point of diplomacy. An agreement is reached that settles the matter in a way that's agreeable to all parties concerned. If you think a diplomatic solution is somehow cedes anything to Russia, you don't understand how diplomacy works. As for the Neocons planning a "ground invasion"? Again, a red herring. The Neocons and the likes of Victoria Nuland have had Russia in their sights for long time. Hostility to Russia became part and parcel of US foreign policy along with the apparent desire for a war that never ends. Do I need to make a list of all the failures? And yet nobody ever stops to question the madness lately.

Do you understand the timing of Johnson's visit? Significant, I think.

Assume, arguendo. I conceded your point for the purpose of argument. And I'm not evading anything. Nor was I "triggered." I'm not the one playing the blame game here. That's you, that's the trick of the Western leaders these days, and they're playing that game as a means of deflecting responsibility. It's always someone else's fault, right? And that's the problem. That's why this war is escalating. And that's why this issue is now moot, in my mind. The real question is how to get out of this mess. The Western leaders have expended too much political capital at this point. And because of their mentality, they aren't about to start any kind of diplomacy. "You don't give in to tyrants." That seems to be the argument. It's not our fault, it's the tyrant's fault. So we've passed that point in the conflict, I think. What's the way forward? We had better hope some responsible adults appear very soon. Adults who recognize the need for diplomacy. As for "piling the blame on the West"? Historically, that's exactly where it lies. One failed fiasco after another, going back at least as far as the Vietnam war. Of course, back then those in charge used the "Domino Theory" to justify the war. We all know how that turned out. Today, we have the Neocons and they've done nothing but bankrupt America with one failed venture after another. Even against small, less powerful adversaries, everything they touched eventually turned bad. And now they've upped the ante and have Russia as their target. They play the plane game and ignore history. They ignore world history, they ignore the history of Eastern Europe, and they pretend the Putin simply woke up one fine morning and decided to invade Ukraine, without provocation simply because he's a tyrant. A convenient way to deflect blame from themselves, but not at all helpful if a solution is to be found.

Boris Johnson was just an errand boy at that point, right?