Russia and Ukraine

[Rev. Rye]

Whatever his style might be, it's looking alot like empty suit shit.

In fairness, that's kinda par for the course for the current wave of autocrats.

[The Grand Nudger]

Donald 2.0. People keep asking his opinion like he has one, like he's not a bio-automaton. But what if he is?

....."good enough" - I rest my case. Yes, Putin is good enough, in the moral and geopolitical sewer. If you live elsewhere, it's manifestly insufficient. The world lives elsewhere.

[Anomalocaris]

Donald 2.0.  People keep asking his opinion like he has one, like he's not a bio-automaton.  But what if he is?

....."good enough" - I rest my case.  Yes, Putin is good enough, in the moral and geopolitical sewer.  If you live elsewhere, it's manifestly insufficient.  The world lives elsewhere.

Actually, sewer, as you call it, is the foundation upon which the world rests. People who think pretty facade can live levitated in the air are delusional.   Who put them up to this delusion and sustained it, and why?

Putin may not be brilliant, but he is clear eyed.

Those in charge in Washington really do not suffer from this delusion either, and in this they are fundamentally very much like Putin.    they merely perpetuate this delusion because makes the populous feel all self righteous and therefore pliable and uncritical of their action.     However unlike Putin they have long fallen out of the habit of thinking things through, because the fact that their last generation won the Cold War and they themselves command a great power, they think they can do no wrong.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yeah, yeah, you say that, concern trolling the world while simultaneosly excusing despots. But here's the thing....

Even in the moral and geopolitical sewer, the invasion of ukraine is a shitshow. What clear eyed objective do you have in mind to show for putins clear eye-edness? He's a silly man who made a foolish decision. Save it, if you can. Tell us how he's playing 20 dimensional chess. Don't tell me how Washington is a fuck up in it's own right- explain how Putin isn't also a fuckup despite all of the same reasons.

I wont hold my breath, you were out of gas before you began - like a common russian tank on the road to Kiev.

[JairCrawford]

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

That about sums up my feelings on this whole thing.

[Anomalocaris]

The fact that he is invading Ukraine shows he is clear eyed.

It shows he He correctly judged the west’s interest in Ukraine is comparatively minor and expendable, while russia’s is existential.    So he can keep raising the stake, and the west will in reality fold long before he would.

And he is making that clear by taunting the Ukrainians and the west with a truck convoy that is a sitting target, to show the west will absolutely not match his stake.

At the final analysis, he is trying to secure the credibility of a country’s strategic nuclear deterrence and with its that country’s ability to pursue independent foreign policy in the long run.    you think western sanction that may take 5% off of Russian GDP for a few years would be seen as even a moderate price for so great a stake?

[The Grand Nudger]

No. This is the end of the myth of putin and a resurgent russian empire no matter what happens next. You and I both will have to explain why we thought he was a better leader than current events demonstrate him to be.

He's a fuckup, He fucked up massively with ukraine. That's a fact that has to be accounted for.

[Anomalocaris]

No.  This is the end of the myth of putin and a resurgent russian empire no matter what happens next.  You and I both will have to explain why we thought he was a better leader than current events demonstrate him to be.

He's a fuckup, He fucked up massively with ukraine.   That's a fact that has to be accounted for.

This may put an end to the myth of Putin the genius.   But it burnished his image as Putin the much less delusional than our planners.

[The Grand Nudger]

Seems cut out of the exact same cloth.

[Anomalocaris]

Seems cut out of the exact same cloth.

No, we thought he had an IQ of 200, at least 50 points higher than our planners.  We found out he had an IQ of 75, but that is still 50 points higher than ours.