(December 24, 2022 at 8:55 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(December 24, 2022 at 5:33 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: The Russians always so kindly line up their tanks and troop carriers like bowling pins for A-10s to strike.

My Serenity Prayer: "Lord, give me a beer to accept the things I cannot change, and an A-10 to change the things I can."

---

(December 24, 2022 at 9:33 pm)LinuxGal Wrote:

---

It's a lot of headache. The gun's about nine foot long, and it carries about eight tons of ordinance underwing, including stand-off Mavericks and JDAMS.

Let's get them to Ukrainians ASAP.

(December 24, 2022 at 11:07 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(December 24, 2022 at 9:33 pm)LinuxGal Wrote:

---

It's a lot of headache. The gun's about nine foot long, and it carries about eight tons of ordinance underwing, including stand-off Mavericks and JDAMS.

Let's get them to Ukrainians ASAP.

We're trying to get them booted up, but they've been flying fucking MiGs all this time.

(December 24, 2022 at 12:37 pm)LinuxGal Wrote:

(December 24, 2022 at 11:35 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Putin's painted himself into a corner: Russia is unable to win, and Putin cannot afford to lose.

And the US did our part in this by giving Ukraine a bunch of old weapons that were going to be decommissioned anyway, for less money that it would have cost to decommission them.

The US is spending huge amounts of money on this war. The Europeans are doing their part too but the lions share belongs to American tax payers . Zelensky calls it an investment on freedom and democracy. I think he is right. Because they are the ones paying in life not money.
 
   All that I am saying is that I thought the era of domination junkies was more or less over after WWII. Yet there are still some maniacs to remind us that this is not going to be over any time soon. My problem is that I cannot understand like why a nation like China, who rules over 1/4th of the population of the world doesn’t want to leave Taiwan alone.
 
   There are news of Japan and Australia + India increasing their military spending as well. I still see it as money that could be spent in a more constructive manner. But maybe that’s just my personal, philosophical idealist way of thinking. 

(December 24, 2022 at 11:43 pm)LinuxGal Wrote:

(December 24, 2022 at 11:07 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: It's a lot of headache. The gun's about nine foot long, and it carries about eight tons of ordinance underwing, including stand-off Mavericks and JDAMS.

Let's get them to Ukrainians ASAP.

We're trying to get them booted up, but they've been flying fucking MiGs all this time.

Well, we're not sending them any A-10s, unfortunately. They've been training of F-16s for a couple of months now. I'm guessing they should be ready to fly them in combat by next June.

(December 25, 2022 at 6:49 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: There are news of Japan and Australia + India increasing their military spending as well. I still see it as money that could be spent in a more constructive manner. But maybe that’s just my personal, philosophical idealist way of thinking. 

When you live in a shitty neighborhood, investing in home defense is a good investment.

(December 25, 2022 at 6:49 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: All that I am saying is that I thought the era of domination junkies was more or less over after WWII. Yet there are still some maniacs to remind us that this is not going to be over any time soon. My problem is that I cannot understand like why a nation like China, who rules over 1/4th of the population of the world doesn’t want to leave Taiwan alone.

Quote:KYIV, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said the Russians had unleashed heavy artillery barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours.

The drone was allegedly flying near Russia's Engels air base, where long-range strategic bombers that may have been used to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure are based.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement three air force personnel had been killed in the incident but no planes were damaged.

However, Russian and Ukrainian social media accounts said a number of planes had been destroyed. Reuters was not able to independently verify those reports.

As the war entered its 11th month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he was open to negotiations, and he blamed Ukraine and its Western allies for failing to engage in talks.

But his forces kept up their relentless attacks, with the Ukrainian military saying early on Monday dozens of towns in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzia regions had been shelled.

"In the Kherson direction, the enemy continues artillery shelling of populated areas along the right bank of the Dnipro River," the Ukrainian military said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/rus...022-12-26/

Funny how the Russians have twice now claimed that the only damage and deaths were caused by debris from destroyed drones.

(December 25, 2022 at 11:54 am)LinuxGal Wrote:

(December 25, 2022 at 6:49 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: All that I am saying is that I thought the era of domination junkies was more or less over after WWII. Yet there are still some maniacs to remind us that this is not going to be over any time soon. My problem is that I cannot understand like why a nation like China, who rules over 1/4th of the population of the world doesn’t want to leave Taiwan alone.

(Joke)
 
What I wanted to say is that, mankind lived in an era in which power was the only common currency. Slavery was the basis of some economies in the past. The Chinese had written books on methods of torture. People were crucified, buried alive, burned alive etc. So in the past the only rule was the rule of power and subjugation. Ancient states were modelled on this that’s why ancient states were authoritarian.
 
   Than there were philosophers who asked the question “How do we rule people? What is the most logical way of doing that?” And just as payed workers are much more productive than slaves and modern capitalist economies are grooving faster than economies based on serfdom, republics and democracies are more efficient than autocracies. It simply works better. It’s not perfect, but it’s better autocracies. There will be less corruption, less public upheavals, the economy will work better, and things will be done in a much better way. This is based on pure observation. Today the top economies of the world are not religious dictatorships or socialist autocracies. Democracies are the strongest economies. This is a fact.
 
   So I don’t agree with people who call Hitler a genius. And I don’t like it when they refer to Stalin as “The Man of Steel”. In the same way I think that the intelligence of People like Xi-chi-Ping or Putin are largely overestimated. Yes they may be like spies with a very high IQ. Still they are fools. They haven’t done their homework. They still believe in “the old way of doing things” while we have more efficient and modern ways of doing things.
 
So does he want to unify with Taiwan?
 
- Well, why doesn’t he start by increasing freedoms within China? Then, only then, there might be a referendum in Taiwan sometime and then there might be a unification with the self-governing island.
 
That’s how I see it. And the fact that we are all increasing our military spending in a time of climate emergency is another form of insanity. And Europeans are slowly moving away from their “made in China” policies. Many corporations are coming back to Europe or are moving to third countries. So consumers should be more aware too. I personally am no longer buying anything made in China if there is an alternative.
 
Because this is what it is? Am I not right?

Reliance on force is generally driven by the desires of elites to attain short-term gains. They want the goodies while they're alive to enjoy them.