Arnold Ziffel would go but only if Lisa Douglas asked him to.
Russia is demanding sanctions relief to rebuild the pipeline:
There is your motive.
Minute 14 also goes into Gazprom's motives.
According to these clowns we are like three conquests of Ukraine, two nuclear wars, and 700 destroyed HIMARS in.Delusions of grandeur, or simply reaffirming their intent from the beginning?
If they can muster 100-200k men from the north, including Belarus, does Ukraine have enough men and ammo to hold a 3,000 km long line?
Russian state TV: “This is not the last referendum. Kharkiv, Kyiv and Poltava will follow. We are at the beginning. We will bring everyone back to the motherland.”
#1 country in world, in value of natural resource reserves (oil, natural gas, coal, gold, diamonds, rare earth metals, etc.)I’m embarrassed I never made this point before. It really lays bare just how stupid this war is. Russia’s problems are self inflicted and more land won’t solve them.
Y'know, rather than a specific military response, the US could just offer a billion dollars, extraction, citizenship, and the promise to disappear anyone who offs Putin. Prolly be a lot cheaper and more effective.
Yes.They say there were explosions. Can they tell what kind of explosions? Can they identify one type of charge from another? Planted devices from say .... torpedoes?
Russia never started this war for land though. It was a myriad other reasons.I’m embarrassed I never made this point before. It really lays bare just how stupid this war is. Russia’s problems are self inflicted and more land won’t solve them.
Glory.Russia never started this war for land though. It was a myriad other reasons.
If I were the US, I would offer Putin a sweet deal that would be hard to turn down. Negotiate a quick end to the war and to grant Putin political asylum in the U.S. with a $ billion of his own money. That would include his family and to live free in a secluded and protected place for the rest of his life. The other Russians in the leadership would be thankful for a way out of their predicament esp if it could come to a quick and painless end like this.Y'know, rather than a specific military response, the US could just offer a billion dollars, extraction, citizenship, and the promise to disappear anyone who offs Putin. Prolly be a lot cheaper and more effective.
Hell they should do that now.
I often thought this might work well for North Korea. Dear Leader loves Western goods already. But I fear he loves adoration even more.---
If I were the US, I would offer Putin a sweet deal that would be hard to turn down. Negotiate a quick end to the war and to grant Putin political asylum in the U.S. with a $ billion of his own money. That would include his family and to live free in a secluded and protected place for the rest of his life. The other Russians in the leadership would be thankful for a way out of their predicament esp if it could come to a quick and painless end like this.
Putin would go for it. Because he cares more for his own skin and family than his country.
If I were the US, I would offer Putin a sweet deal that would be hard to turn down.
Putin would never trust the US . . . or anyone but himself. One lonely little man . . . all the more dangerous for it.That is not possible.
Putin could never trust the US.
And given the sort of tyranny he enjoys at home, Putin can trust no one.
Sobering New Yorker article:
What makes you think we aren't already at defcon 1/2?As I stated some pages ago, we need to "raise" the Defcon level. Because Putin WILL do it. We need to be loud and clear about the consequences.
We also need to mobilize our military forces and get them into position. This is happening. We need conventional options if we opt for measured responses.
There must be no mistake. We are at war with Russia.
What makes you think we aren't already at defcon 1/2?
MAD no longer exists.What I am saying is... it needs to be loud and clear. That we are able and willing. That MAD still exists, despite Russian TV proclaiming otherwise.
Our deterrence is having its bluff called. It is time to show our hand.
They are less likely to nuke Ukraine if we demonstrate our readiness.
No demo yet. I think he will issue an ultimatum to Ukraine to back off or else. Maybe in a few days when Ukraine has continuously flipped the bird at Putin's ultimatum will he escalate again.Tomorrow is the day Moscow claims it will make annexation official. We might not be waiting long to see what happens. I think he's going to serve up a demonstration, just not sure if the target will be something minimal, or something major.
I'm not convinced that he won't. I think that we certainly have to consider it. I'm hoping that we have every thing possible aimed at their nuke capabilities and that it's ready to fire. I'm half convinced that if there's more escalation from Russia and credible evidence of activity at launch sites then we should preemptively trash as much of their nuclear capabilities as possible.But I don't think he will ever use a nuke. tactical or otherwise. There is a greater change of Belarus entering the war than Putin using nukes.