Jingthing

More on this. I guess the world should be on alert. We've got a crazy old man with nukes making threats. Aside from the Cuban missile crisis, did the cold war ever get as bad as this? Putin 'Increasingly Unhinged,' May Not Negotiate 'Peaceful Outcome': McFaul (msn.com)

You sound passionate about pasta. I can respect that. However, I want to clarify something. Italian American style lasagna almost always uses ricotta (or tragically cottage cheese) instead of bechamel. There is a long history to that. The spinach addition is much less common, generally seen as a more fancy version, but there is still the ricotta. You can certainly get traditional lasagna in the U.S. There are many styles of Italian restaurants there. I have never claimed the ricotta version is the same. I have explicitly said it's the standard Italian American style so NOT the same. I will add that it's very common to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta in Italian American lasagna especially for home cooking. Cottage cheese is cheaper so it's probably even more common than ricotta but I personally hate it in lasagna. The U.S. is not the only country that varies recipes. Have you ever had Argentinian pizza? Thai style American fried rice?

If he destroys the country he wins too.

If that's the only thing we have that MIGHT prevent nuclear war I think it might be time for an end of times parteeee.

Say it IS so Joe, say it IS so: Gen. Keith Kellogg on Fox News: Putin Has 'Lost This War' (mediaite.com) Of course the only downside is that Putin won't ever accept losing ... so ... nuke.

Some Putin watchers are saying something has fundamentally changed with him. Perhaps medical. But yeah, he appears to have transitioned from maybe a rational actor to DEFINITELY NOT.

Sounds like that SWIFT move is stronger than people might have thought.

Yeah he wants total surrender or nothing.

He's getting on. May as well take the rest of the world along for the ride I understand Russians being brainwashed by nationalism and propaganda but I can't understand the support he gets from westerners. So he's very dangerous now. Sounds like he feels that he's losing.

Keep in mind thanks to Putin Ukraine is an active war zone. So as in any war, there is the fog of war. The odds are still overwhelming that Russia will meet its war goals followed by a resistance. I heard that Macron said today that could drag on for years. I said the same thing before. For Ukraine to win this initial war phase would be a miracle.

Is it possible to make a formal request for a clarification or do you need a lawyer for that?

Neutral? Does not compute.

This is a harsh situation indeed. Many people are dying. A new refugee crisis in the making. But what I find totally nauseating about your POV is the tonal implication that Ukraine has the blame for this happening. No. It is 100 percent on Putin.

I think you're splitting hairs. The stated policy was that severe sanctions would start AFTER INVASION and there was an unsuccessful attempt to use that as a DETERRANCE. But Putin was never going to be deterred by sanctions with any timing. We know that know. There was a short period where whether or not a literal invasion had started after that recognition of Donbas fake republics happened. Now the severe sanctions are starting. Nobody can expect quick results from them,

That is true. What do you expect? This is an existential fight for Ukraine.

I used to think people that said the UN doesn't serve any purpose anymore were extremists, but now I'm not so sure.

I didn't hear the U.S. say they would get involved. The opposite actually, quite clearly, again and again.

I'm not so sure. Why haven't they gone after Taiwan already? Yes, they're preparing for it but what are they waiting for? I guess is that they don't really want a world war and see a risk that the U.S. will step up to defend. We don't know that the U.S. will, but there is that famous ambiguity that they might. In Ukraine on the other hand it was stated clearly, neither the U.S. or Nato would directly fight Russia. Perhaps it was a mistake that the U.S. didn't leave direct conflict with Russia on the table. If anything might have stopped Putin, maybe that would have.

That's interesting. Could you be careful AND unpredictable? One of the odd things about this made for t.v. and social media invasion is that there was basically no surprise element. Putin wanted there to be, but Biden's policy of releasing so much intelligence about false flag attempts and invasion timing deprived him of that.

What is Putin's endgame? Well, hopefully for the sake of the world including Russia -- the end of Putin.

Thailand won't give either side something they don't give both sides (or more likely no sides). That's how they roll. F-rangs fighting each other ... no biggie.

Well I think Putin made a massive mistake invading Ukraine although he clearly could have gotten away with annexing Donbas only. I don't think the Chinese are on the same page with what Putin has done but they see the benefit in the alliance because of Taiwan. Basically, I think Putin's action is self destructive and insane at this point. He misjudged the level of resistance. He thought he could get away with everything and I think even if it takes years the end result will be with Putin gone. The Chinese are much more careful in their steps. Sure the Chinese badly want Taiwan but they're not as stupid and crazy as Putin in jumping the gun. Of course in the longer run (or shorter) the problems to the west posed by Russia are going to pale in comparison with the challenge of China.

What he's doing now is clearly coming from his inner core, no advisors needed. Sorry but transitioning from comedian to historic world leader (and sadly fairly likely martyr) is extremely atypical! Ask other comedians:

And the fact that he's an ex-comedian, you couldn't make that up.

He and the Ukrainian people are an inspiration to people all over the world that freedom and democracy are worth fighting and dying for. If Zelenskyj is murdered today by the evil Putin forces, he will still live in world history as a great hero. Much of the west, especially the USA, are living in badly degraded democracies in danger of being wiped out by internal idiocies. Hopefully more and more people will understand that you can't ever take democracy for granted. It is so easy to lose it and once you lose it, it can be almost impossible to take it back. Also I must admit a personal pride at the unlikelihood of such a Ukranian hero being a Jew as my relatives were forced from there due to genocidal antisemitism. There are indeed still some such dark forces in Ukraine just as there are in the USA, Germany and pretty much everywhere, but still there is the irony of Putin lying that he is going after Nazis when he's the one acting very much like Adolph himself in his invasion of Czechoslovakia.