COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why does he have to present his video like an idiot? It's really unattractive and sounds like clickbait

Right. I would never watch this if it hadn't been recommended.

[anticausal]

They are largely passive, turning the other cheek when you insult them, wrong them or take away their freedom, but they jump up ready to fight if you dare say anything good about Putin.
It seems to be why everybody toes the line on Putin=bad, even when they know better.

I was talking in person with a boomer about the Ukraine situation, and when I started arguing that Putin's invasion was rational and that claims he is actively targeting the civilian population made no sense, it's like his brain short-circuited. This is someone who saw through all the bullshit on COVID, but when it came to this, Putin had to be a rabid dog acting on pure rage. But he was at least open to hearing my arguments, so I went further and he slowly started to see the sense in my reasoning. As this happened, his boomer wife became hysterical and shut me down from speaking completely, demanding we change the subject. It was an almost perfect microcosm of western media censorship tactics.

[Nicholas Laureys]

Just sharing this since I more easily see and understand the Russian Telegram channels out there, but honestly I had unsubscribed from most of them after seeing vids of murders at checkpoints (by guess who??) and other evil deeds by those Azov and Zelensky brigades, then resubscribed yesterday because with world events you gotta at least partially grasp what's going on, evil as it may or may not seem. But Rip I will respectfully cease posting such stuff if it seems like pointless misinformation from the Russkie (as opposed to Western) side of this conflict.

Look even I was thinking this whole "UkrainoNazi" thing was being overblown, but the longer this drags on, the more the facts seem to support the side of those dastardly Rooskies:

Telegram: Contact @Doninside
Translation of the video description:
Well, now we are definitely closing the topic of the strike on the “peaceful shopping center” in Kyiv. No comments are needed here. Everything is visible.

@sashakots

Translation of one of the comments:

what can you see???? You can see how the hailstorm of fire was discharged from the vehicle. According to the indications of the azimuth on the video from the drone, you can determine in which direction the shots were fired from. Then they tracked where that vehicle went, how it drove into the shopping center, and then how the debris from the vehicle and the Ukronazi team blew away. By the strength of the explosion, you can guage the huge amount of ammunition that had been stored in this building of the shopping center.

[Nicholas Laureys]

I know of a few wealthy Russians who got everybody they care about out of Russia.
In the US, people seem to think nuclear war is impossible.
In Russia, they know we are now closer to nuclear war than we have ever been.

A TON of Westerners have jumped ship from here, and it's been hilarious seeing them do things as foolish as taking taxis to the border in order to walk across it with a ton of luggage. Most, needless to say, are vaccinated and can cross the border without COVID hindrance. The sad part is to see how many of these visitors held anti-Putin and, in general, anti-[non-cosmopolitan]Russian sentiments. WTF were you doin in Russia, anyway, if most of your values align with the Western (politically correct) tenets? If we are plagued with migrants who only want our money and welfare but at least are apolitical on the social and cultural issues, then Russia has had it much worse off with Western visitors who has been hoping to *change* her.

As for Rooskie evacuations, it again really seems like the city/regions divide defines who is running away. I thought about it for a second, but only to move further East, beyond the mountains, not to the West! But then I thought, how would a nuclear attack be worse to weather in Russia than in another country? These Russians are damned resourceful and tenacious; I think they'd probably actually bounce back from bombings quicker and with less NPC rioting and stampeding, than the Europeans, who will soon have Ukranian "refugees" with their free AK-47's to deal with. Besides, probably Serbians and Syrians, and our Veterans here, can confirm - is a conventional bombing attack really that much easier to suffer through, than a nuclear one?

Meh, if nuclear war breaks out, we're ALL fucked, but due to the tenacity and resourcefulness (and ingrained cynicism!) of the citizenry alone, Russia IMHO is one of the better places in which to weather the storm.

[wal]

Holy God, it’s like the 20th century never happened for you. Let me tell you about a little thing called Vatican II…

Yes He is, but tell me about it, I am listening, or reading what you say.

The Chechens are Russia’s number one crowd pleaser PR win in this thing in the Ukraine.

The Chechens are Putin's personal praetorian guard, his shock troops so to speak, but they are finding it difficult to suppress the angry Ukrainians.

How many Catholics do you know? How many of them lived in sin before getting married? That religion is dying a slow( too slow?) death.

Quite a few. Some of them keep trying to convert me and bring me back to the "mother church". Not only them, all of us. Its not dying, it is just getting started.

[Stump]

As time goes on, I begin to believe more and more "history" is just a means used by people exercising control to libel those who dare oppose them for generations to come. Every time I hear "the right side of history," I believe this more and more.

“The victor will always be the judge, and the vanquished the accused.”

[rkjohns1]

This is quite simple rk, you can pick and choose which MSM you agree with regarding civilian deaths and infrastructure damage in Russia, much like you could choose with COVID.

I'm in a debate with my close uncle over this very thing right now; he too was onboard with what was really up with COVID but has gone overboard on this Russia stuff- he keeps shouting about the Ukrainians sufferring dEaTh aNd DeStruCtIon.

Can someone older here fill me in on how strong the anti-Soviet sentiment was back in the day, how fearful this Cold War made us feel in everyday life? I'm trying to figure out this gut reaction to all things Russian, regardless of the facts on the ground!


But at the end of the day, it comes down to this: do you think Putin can/should keep enemies' alliances as far away from his borders as possible, can/should protect his ethnic brothers when under attack, and can/should employ force when diomacy fails? I would say that the newest #MuhRussia madness boils down to your opinions on THAT, just like with the two-sided presentation presentation of COVID "facts," it all came down to whether you thought the federal government even possessed the powers to enact such restrictions, regardless of circumstance (it doesn't).

And BTW I'm sick of "conservatives" like Denniger (even Tucker!) qualifying their analyses of this and other conflicts with admissions that, nonetheless, Putin=BAD. He's no more of an asshole than Republicans "want poor people dead" when they pursue certain policies. So, next time, think of the childish, visceral propaganda you must be internalizing, when you exclaim how BAD that tricky Russkie Putin is.

I would tell Denniger this directly on his board, but he has displayed himself to be 1000x less tolerant of critique and insult than our magnanimous host Rip here is.

Thank you for your response, though it isn't an answer to my questions. I don't have anything against Russia, Russians, or even the Russian soldiers waging this ridiculous war. They're only carrying out the orders of their authoritarian tyrant.

Here you go, straight from Wikipedia:
But really, nobody serious anywhere is trying to claim that the Kosovo “intervention” was in accordance with international law. The Serbs are pussies, they hold way too much of a grudge over a little bit of bombing, but the illegality of the Kosovo thing is not even remotely questionable.

Thank you for your response. And thus, the not even remotely questionable illegality of Putin's "special operation" into Ukraine.

In the leader piece of its January 29th, 2022 issue, the Economist writes this:

"The global order has long been buttressed by the norm that countries do not redraw other countries' borders by force of arms. when Iraq seized Kuwait in 1990, an international coalition led by America (that's how they call it - my note) kicked it out. Mr Putin, who has a nuclear arsenal at his command, has already got away with annexing Crimea".
(Russia's roulette - it's easy to find on the Economist website, but it's paywalled)

Note, en passant, that it mentions 'norms', not written treaties. But that's not the main point.
The main point is that, I think you will agree, there is a glaring omission in the passage above: Kosovo.
Serbia's borders *were* redrawn by force of arms by the NATO intervention of 1999, an intervention that did not have the UN Security Council backing.
It was the first instance in which NATO showed it had unofficially changed its policy and its raison d'etre; from defensive alliance of a very limited and specified region of the world, to an organisation that gave itself the right to intervene offensively way outside that region. I suppose that, like any big bureaucracy faced with downsizing, it had to do something to justify its existence.
So, what Putin has done in Crimea, is nothing more than what NATO did in 1999 (and that's not couting on the fact the Crimeans voted for it, we've already gone over this so no need to repeat).
You think what happened in Kosovo did not break any treaty or written rules, and therefore using it to justify Putin's action is "revisionism"? Fine. But then you will have to apply the same standard to Putin's actions in Crimea. You can't consider one 'good' and the other 'bad', like the Economist implicitly does.

[note: There is another historic parallel in this story. The ex-Yugoslavia carnage started when Germany recognised Croatia and Slovenia, despite having agreed *not* to do so at a EU summit only a couple of weeks before, and despite the UN Secreatary General of the time warning that the action would have grave consequences. So, when Putin recognised the Republics of Lugansk and Donbass, he just repeated what Germany did in Yugoslavia in 1992. Again, I don't think you can condone what Germany did and condemn what Putin did at the same time]


As for NATO expansion, no formal written treaties were ever signed; plenty of verbal assrances at the highest level were offered and reiterated (see for example: NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard | National Security Archive).

What does this mean? It means, imho, that NATO's word is worth shit. Which, in a sense, makes Putins' case for his actions even stronger, not weaker. Because how could he trust reassurances that Ukraine would not join NATO, that it would not become a platform for lethal offensive weapon systems aimed at Russia? Do you think he could trust these promises from the same actor (NATO) that had already spectacularly broken its word once? Why do you think he insisted on a *written* agreement?

So, from the legal point of view, no treaty was broken, we agree on that. But the consequence of this is the fact that NATO cannot be considered a trustworthy partner, and this, imho, makes the world in general, and the Eurasian region in particular, much less secure. I don't think NATO in particular, and the West in general, can think of holding the moral high ground on this.

IPB

Thank you for your reply. There was a time when Russia seemed to show a desire to be a partner in the European security architecture. That has changed - you seem to blame NATO, I blame Putin.

[Gilead]

Yet another "coding error", which is also the excuse for the DoD DMSS database problem. Seems to be the new excuse of choice.

CDC Removes 24 Percent Of Child COVID-19 Deaths, Blames Coding Error | ZeroHedge

Horowitz: Record infections in super-vaxxed UK seniors as double-vaxxed show negative efficacy against COVID death - TheBlaze

[Jovan Dragisic]

Now I understand why you like Kabalistic text. You would probably enjoy Chassidic works as well. If you're interested, I am happy to discuss this on a different forum.

I would love to. Shoot me an email to elkorac monkey outlook dotcom. Jeff Snider is doing the Lord's work, but I wish he would quit the video channels and write a book. He is also too optimistic, I think he is probably a Jew, you guys seem to think the world is worth saving.

Besides, probably Serbians and Syrians, and our Veterans here, can confirm - is a conventional bombing attack really that much easier to suffer through, than a nuclear one?

I mean, maybe we can find some Japanese who could confirm this, I really don't see how anyone else could.

[Gilead]

Jeff Snider is doing the Lord's work, but I wish he would quit the video channels and write a book. He is also too optimistic, I think he is probably a Jew, you guys seem to think the world is worth saving.

Probably a Jew. I think he is optimistic because he has to be for his job. If he can't convince people he knows his stuff and can make money for them even in such a crazy time, then he can not get clients or keep the trust of the ones he has.