Rants and WTF are you talking about and Coronavirus!

[Pessimist]

That's exactly what it is though. The myths or "delusions" that you and McAdonis have bought into are exposed through the link below. Sad that anti-American propaganda, especially that which has been popular among many ungrateful Euros has found it's way into discussions of the most recent Russian butchery and attacks on freedom. There hasn't been such a clear dividing line between the good guys and bad guys since World War II. If you aren't with us then you are against us.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/115204.htm

LOL. CCP thugs Murse and his boss Mac Adonis were never with the west or the civilized world. Their one and only allegiance was always to their pay master China. They were sent to live among the democratic nations as CCP 5th column and to spread the CCP invention Covid but yeah, from the beginning it was clear where their loyalty pointed to. And yes, Putin is a thuggish genocidal monster but CCP China is as much behind this Ukr invasion as Russia is. They knew in advance when it would happen and delayed it till their cursed CcPympics finished. They are the supply chain providers to Ru even as the rest of this planet cut off and shunned Ru and Putin. The only ones taking any payment from Ru and sending anything to Ru are the CCP thugs. And their reps on this forum Mac and Murse are doing their level best to support their country's bff Putin. Quite a pathetic duo.

[Paulie97]

There's nothing worse than logical fallacies when it comes to misleading others, but such are readily employed by shady lawyers and politicians, and of course dictators. It's truly sad when we see Euros and even some Americans online pitching Putin's fanciful arguments verbatim. For one thing the Cuban missile crisis followed a US attack on Cuban soil. Second it involved nuclear warheads with the power to pick off major US cities in less than 15 minutes. Those currently employed in Romania and Poland are non-nuclear, and defensive in nature with limited range.

"Finally, there is Putin's charge that the US has been planning to install missiles in Ukraine as a global-strategic-stability-destroying plan. But in truth, the missiles in question now stationed in Poland and Romania are weapons with conventional warheads and are anti-missile missiles with limited range. They cannot be converted into strategic ICBMs or IRBMs — as those are very different technologies. US officials argue the anti-missile missiles are in place largely to preclude the possibilities of a missile attack from Iran should it choose to target its now-developed strategic missiles northward — especially if they come to be fitted with nuclear warheads eventually."

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/arti...issile-crisis/

The above articles also debunks several of Putin's other fantasies, regarding Neo-Nazi control of the government, yea right, and with Jewish president. And though Neo-Nazis exist in the Ukraine they only won 2% of the vote in the latest elections and no seats in parliament. Or that the current government is illegitimate in spite of democratic elections, etc. , all effectively debunked. Those with their minds already made up that just enjoy arguing on the internet won't read the article, except maybe to quote something out of context and erect a straw man. Others though likely will find it enlightening. Bottom line, NATO nor the Ukraine has posed any threat to Putin, other then to serve as examples of successful, functioning democracies close to him, and for his people to observe and aspire towards. That's the real problem, and a threat to his worldview and holds on power.

[Pessimist]

What is causing people to think that Putin is acting on his own? He has huge support in Russia for Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/w...-families.html

How do we know he has support? It is not as if there were credible, real time polls done in RU after the invasion. There is quite a bit of censorship and that was true even prior the war, nearly total since the invasion. Social media is pulling out.

And whether he has public support or not is somewhat irrelevant. He will power on.

But their economy is getting battered. Overnight, when their central bank was sanctioned, they lost access to more than half of their FX reserves which totaled $650 B. Some of their banks were pulled from Swift. Now, their energy and commodities are in danger of being banned from imports from the west. Their stock has been zeroed out in a mater of a few days. Sberbank, the largest Russian bank, is worth almost nothing now. Same fate befell most of their equities. They are sliding irreversibly into being a bigger, whiter version of NK, a client state of CCP China. No wonder the resident CCP thug Mac Adonis is working over time trolling on this site trying to make a case for the biggest sidekick of his fatherland.

In 20 years, Russian per capita GDP expanded quite nicely from less than $3 K in 1995 to nearly $12 K in 2019. Their people are used to a modicum of good life. This generation does not know how to live like they used to in 1960's. The effect of sanctions works with a time lag when it comes to common people but it does. Stocks are anticipatory and price in bad news months or even years ahead but the same is not true at the ground level. But don't be in any doubt that it will trpedo their economy. It has become a pariah. Should have been for many years, but now it is, firmly. Barring China, no one of consequence will touch them. Even CCP China, despite the rants of their resident troll thug Mac Adonis, is somewhat cautious. Most Chinese banks are refusing to process Russian transactions. Russia spans 9 or 10 time zones but soon they will not have any meaningful aviation thanks to most of the aircraft being foreign made and even foreign owned and supplies of all spare parts cut. The central government on the western edge will lose ever more control of their eastern flank which is already seeing more Chinese immigration. Now, Ru is a client state of China, and as Russian drink themselves to premature deaths, it will get occupied with more Chinese as time goes on. Again, this gladdens the hearts of CCP thugs and their resident agents like macA.

[Pessimist]

I will re-word for clarity. As the invading force, ofc Putin is to blame. Nothing justifies his actions, but as this NYT article suggests, USA and NATO are not entirely innocent when it comes to fanning the flames.

Former Defence Secretary Bill Perry against NATO expansion, 2016:

Former Ambassador to Moscow, George Kennan, "foremost Russian expert" against NATO expansion in 1998, predicting the events of February 2022:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/o...aine-nato.html

We can even re-frame it like this. Putin is the abusive husband. Zelenskyy is the battered wife. Behind the scenes, Biden is telling Zelenskyy that she can come live with him. That emboldens Zelenskyy to mouth off to Putin. When Putin gives Zelenskyy a beating that sends her to the hospital, Biden is nowhere to be found.

"Putin is the abusive husband. Zelenskyy is the battered wife".

Wow. And you are considered an intellectual among the CCP trolls. That is something.

Glad to see that CCP thugs can find amusement with nonsensical analogies while your nation's best friend Putin is killing thousands.

[Escape Artist]

This good guy versus bad guy narrative that seemingly exists everywhere is no different than "religion". They cannot all be correct, but 80 percent of the people on each side believe they are correct.

And this is why you travel and actually talk to people in your travels. Americans are notoriously ignorant and geographically separated from other worldviews so we are especially at fault. Poor nations are also pretty bad about this as the people don't have the means to get around. Lastly, subpopulations such as avid mongers can also be pretty ignorant and perhaps unwittingly so because many only see the inside of brothels, Audis, and only speak to 22 year old hookers who don't know any better.

The first group may be ignorant to our ignorance because we constantly feed that America number one crap. The last group is often ignorant of our ignorance because we spend too much time locked away in fantasy land. To be both, well, we have to be extra careful.

[Sirioja]

Mongolian? Rome was at war against Germanic tribes for 100% of its existence. Anyway, the point is that war mongering as used in this case is a bastardization of the term as any frontier nation will be perpetually "at war". The United States was for most of its existence, a frontier nation. And does Cold War count as actual war?

Anyway, I'll ask again, was Russia's security actually threatened? Has NATO ever had visions of "conquering" Russia? Who would? Why does Russia need Ukraine?

For black sea and next USSR.

[Pistons]

Yes and he's unable to realize that very often they're contradictory.

Your very existence is contradictory. Contra dick.

[Pistons]

You have so many theories. Yet you got covid twice. BTW, still suffering from the ED that you were complaining before?

All of the things I posted here can be found on the web if you search for it. I could even give you all the links to studies. But I love leaving you silly wits hanging. It's how I roll.

ED? Extended dick? Sure, but it's not something I would consider a suffering.

[Escape Artist]

As ex-President Jimmy Carter, Naval Academy Graduate and patriot opined in 2018: USA is the most war-mongering nation in history; it has been engaged in wars for all but 16 of its 242 years of existence.

Mongolian? Rome was at war against Germanic tribes for 100% of its existence. Anyway, the point is that war mongering as used in this case is a bastardization of the term as any frontier nation will be perpetually "at war". The United States was for most of its existence, a frontier nation. And does Cold War count as actual war?

Anyway, I'll ask again, was Russia's security actually threatened? Has NATO ever had visions of "conquering" Russia? Who would? Why does Russia need Ukraine?

[The Cane]

As ex-President Jimmy Carter, Naval Academy Graduate and patriot opined in 2018: USA is the most war-mongering nation in history; it has been engaged in wars for all but 16 of its 242 years of existence.

This is why I laugh out loud every time I hear an American president proclaim, "We are a peace-loving people". LOLOLOL! No, as an American myself who knows how to keep it real, what I understand is that we Americans a warlike people who have been repeatedly engaged in conflicts (large and small and remembered and forgotten and sometimes mostly unknown) for most of our history as a nation (plus before nationhood as well). That said, I'm not saying that has all been bad. There are times when you have to fight, when you need to fight, and when you should fight. But, we have been involved in some real "stinkers" too (Vietnam and Iraq for example). At the end of the day, I'm glad we still have the best military in the world verus "the bad guys" having that.

[BigBuddy69]

You have so many theories.

Yes and he's unable to realize that very often they're contradictory.

[McAdonis]

I've got a better analogy. Western culture is the cool crowd in which people want to be a part. Putin's Russia is that lonely emo kid sitting alone at the lunch table. Instead of legitimately becoming more inviting and attractive to win people over, the emo kid comes to school with an AK47 and shoots up the school cafeteria because he's not one of the cool kids.

Haha, well I would say the emo kid so far has just shot his little brother, because he felt betrayed. And the cool kid made some promises of security to the little brother that emboldened him to sit at the cool kids table.

European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Friday:

“I am ready to admit that we made a number of mistakes and that we lost the possibility of Russia’s rapprochement with the West," he said in an interview aired on the TF1 television channel. "There are moments that we could do better, there are things that we proposed and then could not implement, such as, for example, the promise that Ukraine and Georgia will become part of NATO."

"I think it's a mistake to make promises that you can't keep,” Borrell added.

For months, the European leaders and NATO officials have been feeding Kyiv with promises to accept Ukraine into the transatlantic alliance, as well as the 27-nation European Union, angering Moscow. However, as soon as the Russian military operation started at the end of February, all the pledges faded away at once.

https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/west-made-mistake-in-promising-ukraine-nato-membership-borrell.

[McAdonis]

There hasn't been such a clear dividing line between the good guys and bad guys since World War II. If you aren't with us then you are against us.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are both authoritarian states, accused of war crimes, as well as military aggressors that "launch attacks on freedom". Yet the West supports one evil regime but not the other. Why not just be transparent and say Russia is our strategic enemy and Saudi Arabia is our ally? And supporting one over the other aligns more with our strategic geopolitic and financial interests?

Every empire in the history of civilization has created this narrative: "We are the good guys, and we need to defeat the bad guys". It is the narrative used to console mothers who must send their young sons off to war. I am sure you can go to any point in history when the USA had tensions with a foreign power, read the archived newspapers, and see the demonization campaigns. Often lasting up to a decade, beating the drums and rallying support for war. Rinse and repeat. As ex-President Jimmy Carter, Naval Academy Graduate and patriot opined in 2018: USA is the most war-mongering nation in history; it has been engaged in wars for all but 16 of its 242 years of existence.

This good guy versus bad guy narrative that seemingly exists everywhere is no different than "religion". They cannot all be correct, but 80 percent of the people on each side believe they are correct.

Great powers (Russia, USA, China) occasionally bully weaker powers. Poland historically has been a buffer state between great powers and has been wiped off the map multiple times in its history. Unfortunately, for smaller nations, any desire to be sovereign will always be a delicate balancing act that requires hedging their bets.

[PaulInZurich]

There is a lot of things that blocks the spike protein:

You have so many theories. Yet you got covid twice. BTW, still suffering from the ED that you were complaining before?

[Escape Artist]

Except that when I got covid, having been armed with the tools to fight off infection more quickly, I was over it in a day and a haf and became noninfectious much quicker, infecting less people along the way than those unvaxxed who had symptoms for a week to weeks. Kind of the way vaccines work.