1. #23101
    Over 9000! Santti's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    I admit that I'm waiting to see if there's a purge of some sort.
    I'm fairly sure Russia has been purging for a while now. Quite a few prominent businessmen have died in a rather short time-span over there.

    And who the fuck knows what fate awaits the regular folk, who had the audacity to criticize the war.
    Last edited by Santti; 2022-09-11 at 01:35 PM.
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    And again, let’s presume equity in schools is achievable. Then why should a parent read to a child?

  2. #23102
    Herald of the Titans Iphie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Santti View Post
    I'm fairly sure Russia has been purging for a while now. Quite a few prominent businessmen have died in a rather short time-span over there.
    Pure coincidence....(Yeah, no, I don't believe that either.)

    And who the fuck knows what fate awaits the regular folk, who had the audacity to criticize the war.
    War? What war? 15 years gulag for you! But yeah, I agree,, trying rebel might be a bit difficult

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    Chatter about russian withdrawals from positions around Kherson.

  3. #23103
    Xi Jinping is to meet Putin personally soon, having left the security of Beijing just to do so.
    "Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."

  4. #23104
    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    Xi Jinping is to meet Putin personally soon, having left the security of Beijing just to do so.
    like a vulture about to feast on a carcass.

  5. #23105
    Putin just wants a way out...

  6. #23106
    Elemental Lord Makabreska's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    Putin just wants a way out...
    And what would he get from China? They wont send him troops/equipment or any other significant support. His only way out is withdrawal from Ukraine. Obviously, he then risks being removed by his surrounding for this major fuck up, but what other choice he has? Does he believe in some miracle come back? I hear that he may provoke other conflicts to soften West, but c'mon.
    Last edited by Makabreska; 2022-09-11 at 05:58 PM.
    Sometimes, the light of the moon is a key to other spaces. I've found a place where, for a night or two, the streets curve in unfamiliar ways. If I walk here, I might find insight, or I might be touched by madness.

  7. #23107
    not to mention he likely pissed china off. He signed that no limits cooperation thing. The launched a stupid invasion. Which gave blowback on Taiwan and increased spending on defense from enemies in the region, and China was threatened with explicit sanctions if they helped russia.

  8. #23108
    Quote Originally Posted by Makabreska View Post
    And what would he get from China? They wont send him troops/equipment or any other significant support.
    That's the plan, actually. People here fail to mention how pissed China is over the latest round of US tech sanctions (that are set to last a fucking decade) and their belligerent, unwavering support to Taiwan. Internally, Beijing also has its own serious economic issues.

    China WANTS to pillage Taiwan to ease its burdens, but that hinges on Russia being successful in Ukraine to justify the very idea of an invasion.
    "Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."

  9. #23109
    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    That's the plan, actually. People here fail to mention how pissed China is over the latest round of US tech sanctions (that are set to last a fucking decade) and their belligerent, unwavering support to Taiwan. Internally, Beijing also has its own serious economic issues.

    China WANTS to pillage Taiwan to ease its burdens, but that hinges on Russia being successful in Ukraine to justify the very idea of an invasion.
    Even IF the US ceased to exist tomorrow, China would still be years away from being able to invade Taiwan. They do not have the logistics (seriously how can anyone not see that logistics is one of if not the most important thing in war outside manpower willingness to fight), they need to build a worthwhile navy (not done), landing craft (not done) and find a way to pacify the populace.

    Invading Taiwan even without the US around is to China what Operation Sealion was for Nazi Germany. Not feasible.

  10. #23110
    Quote Originally Posted by Kallisto View Post
    Even IF the US ceased to exist tomorrow, China would still be years away from being able to invade Taiwan. They do not have the logistics (seriously how can anyone not see that logistics is one of if not the most important thing in war outside manpower willingness to fight), they need to build a worthwhile navy (not done), landing craft (not done) and find a way to pacify the populace.

    Invading Taiwan even without the US around is to China what Operation Sealion was for Nazi Germany. Not feasible.
    Not to mention the economic damages. China is still highly dependent on Taiwainese microchips for its tech sector (as is the world entire) and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Invasion means a serious disruption of the supply at best, and this best assumes the Chinese can just capture the fabs intact and get them to work without too many issues, which is quite unlikely to say the least. If the fabs are seriously sabotaged, damaged or even destroyed China, and the world, are in for very rough times, and China being so integrated to the world economy means they don't really want to recklessly mess with it.

    I don't think an invasion of Taiwan is realistic anytime soon. They serve the CCP better as a saber-rattling target than as anything else. Invasion is neither feasible nor worth it for them.
    It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built -Kreia

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  11. #23111
    Elemental Lord Makabreska's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jastall View Post
    Not to mention the economic damages. China is still highly dependent on Taiwainese microchips for its tech sector (as is the world entire) and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Invasion means a serious disruption of the supply at best, and this best assumes the Chinese can just capture the fabs intact and get them to work without too many issues, which is quite unlikely to say the least. If the fabs are seriously sabotaged, damaged or even destroyed China, and the world, are in for very rough times, and China being so integrated to the world economy means they don't really want to recklessly mess with it.

    I don't think an invasion of Taiwan is realistic anytime soon. They serve the CCP better as a saber-rattling target than as anything else. Invasion is neither feasible nor worth it for them.
    It is not a secret Taiwan will destroy their facilities if invaded, making entire endeavour futile. China can posture all they want, it's all empty threats. They have no means of stopping the sabotage, no means of efficiently crossing the sea, would not want to test USA etc. Basically their entire army was improved in past decades, but is still completely untested. It's all another dictator delusional dream about uniting the nations. Pretty sure that current status quo is preferred by everyone.
    Last edited by Makabreska; 2022-09-11 at 07:39 PM.
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  12. #23112
    people are so confident Putin is such a fucking pussy he would both cow to Jinping as if he were his superior, and that he'd rather just take the way out in silent defeat than do anything actually crazy now.
    "Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."

  13. #23113
    Elemental Lord Makabreska's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    people are so confident Putin is such a fucking pussy he would both cow to Jinping as if he were his superior, and that he'd rather just take the way out in silent defeat than do anything actually crazy now.
    Ye, people who actually live and operate in real world and are not constantly under delusions coming from their disturbed minds.
    Sometimes, the light of the moon is a key to other spaces. I've found a place where, for a night or two, the streets curve in unfamiliar ways. If I walk here, I might find insight, or I might be touched by madness.

  14. #23114
    Quote Originally Posted by Makabreska View Post
    Ye, people who actually live and operate in real world and are not constantly under delusions coming from their disturbed minds.
    HERE is the thing though: if he has DOES have little will or drive to continue a genocidal war he started, then why did he even start it at all? It was basically all for nothing top to bottom.
    "Truth...justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one(...) I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt."

  15. #23115
    It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory

    Over the past six days, Ukraine’s armed forces have broken through the Russian lines in the northeastern corner of the country, swept eastward, and liberated town after town in what had been occupied territory. First Balakliya, then Kupyansk, then Izium, a city that sits on major supply routes. These names won’t mean much to a foreign audience, but they are places that have been beyond reach, impossible for Ukrainians to contact for months. Now they have fallen in hours. As I write this, Ukrainian forces are said to be fighting on the outskirts of Donetsk, a city that Russia has occupied since 2014.

    The biggest shock is not Ukraine’s tactics but Russia’s response. “What really surprises us,” Lieutenant General Yevhen Moisiuk, the deputy commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, told me in Kyiv yesterday morning, “is that the Russian troops are not fighting back.”

    More than that: Offered the choice of fighting or fleeing, many of them appear to be escaping as fast as they can. For several days, soldiers and others have posted photographs of hastily abandoned military vehicles and equipment, as well as videos showing lines of cars, presumably belonging to collaborators, fleeing the occupied territories. A Ukrainian General Staff report said that Russian soldiers were ditching their uniforms, donning civilian clothes, and trying to slip back into Russian territory.

    The Ukrainian security service has set up a hotline that Russian soldiers can call if they want to surrender, and it has also posted recordings of some of the calls. The fundamental difference between Ukrainian soldiers, who are fighting for their country’s existence, and Russian soldiers, who are fighting for their salary, has finally begun to matter.

    --------------
    Long article

  16. #23116
    Immortal Poopymonster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory

    Over the past six days, Ukraine’s armed forces have broken through the Russian lines in the northeastern corner of the country, swept eastward, and liberated town after town in what had been occupied territory. First Balakliya, then Kupyansk, then Izium, a city that sits on major supply routes. These names won’t mean much to a foreign audience, but they are places that have been beyond reach, impossible for Ukrainians to contact for months. Now they have fallen in hours. As I write this, Ukrainian forces are said to be fighting on the outskirts of Donetsk, a city that Russia has occupied since 2014.

    The biggest shock is not Ukraine’s tactics but Russia’s response. “What really surprises us,” Lieutenant General Yevhen Moisiuk, the deputy commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, told me in Kyiv yesterday morning, “is that the Russian troops are not fighting back.”

    More than that: Offered the choice of fighting or fleeing, many of them appear to be escaping as fast as they can. For several days, soldiers and others have posted photographs of hastily abandoned military vehicles and equipment, as well as videos showing lines of cars, presumably belonging to collaborators, fleeing the occupied territories. A Ukrainian General Staff report said that Russian soldiers were ditching their uniforms, donning civilian clothes, and trying to slip back into Russian territory.

    The Ukrainian security service has set up a hotline that Russian soldiers can call if they want to surrender, and it has also posted recordings of some of the calls. The fundamental difference between Ukrainian soldiers, who are fighting for their country’s existence, and Russian soldiers, who are fighting for their salary, has finally begun to matter.

    --------------
    Long article
    I'm curious if buildings/civilian centers/infrastructure begin going kaboom by left behind explosives.
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    Quit using other posters as levels of crazy. That is not ok


    If you look, you can see the straw man walking a red herring up a slippery slope coming to join this conversation.

  17. #23117
    Over 9000! zealo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poopymonster View Post
    I'm curious if buildings/civilian centers/infrastructure begin going kaboom by left behind explosives.
    Ukraine is going to have a long term issue with land mines in the regions that Russia operated in long after this war is over, that's one thing that's for certain.

  18. #23118
    Elemental Lord Makabreska's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    And thus, the myth of great Russian army shatters completely.
    Last edited by Makabreska; 2022-09-11 at 09:03 PM.
    Sometimes, the light of the moon is a key to other spaces. I've found a place where, for a night or two, the streets curve in unfamiliar ways. If I walk here, I might find insight, or I might be touched by madness.

  19. #23119
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory

    Over the past six days, Ukraine’s armed forces have broken through the Russian lines in the northeastern corner of the country, swept eastward, and liberated town after town in what had been occupied territory. First Balakliya, then Kupyansk, then Izium, a city that sits on major supply routes. These names won’t mean much to a foreign audience, but they are places that have been beyond reach, impossible for Ukrainians to contact for months. Now they have fallen in hours. As I write this, Ukrainian forces are said to be fighting on the outskirts of Donetsk, a city that Russia has occupied since 2014.

    The biggest shock is not Ukraine’s tactics but Russia’s response. “What really surprises us,” Lieutenant General Yevhen Moisiuk, the deputy commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, told me in Kyiv yesterday morning, “is that the Russian troops are not fighting back.”

    More than that: Offered the choice of fighting or fleeing, many of them appear to be escaping as fast as they can. For several days, soldiers and others have posted photographs of hastily abandoned military vehicles and equipment, as well as videos showing lines of cars, presumably belonging to collaborators, fleeing the occupied territories. A Ukrainian General Staff report said that Russian soldiers were ditching their uniforms, donning civilian clothes, and trying to slip back into Russian territory.

    The Ukrainian security service has set up a hotline that Russian soldiers can call if they want to surrender, and it has also posted recordings of some of the calls. The fundamental difference between Ukrainian soldiers, who are fighting for their country’s existence, and Russian soldiers, who are fighting for their salary, has finally begun to matter.

    --------------
    Long article
    Normally I'd call this skinning the bear before killing it, but coupled with the deluge of news going this way the last week or so and even the Russian media and political figures not being fully on-board the affair anymore looks like, it does seem the offensive is few things short of fully routed.

    If so, then hats off to the Ukrainians. I did not expect them to be able to do this regardless of the ineptitude of Russian forces. Putin's gamble looks to have failed and sadly it'll have a lot of consequences for people in Russia itself, but the Ukrainians still got the rawest deal by far in the long-term. Economy likely in tatters unless West sends tons of money and aid, mines everywhere, refugees leaving the country, thousands if not tens of thousands dead, and there's no certainty that the rowdy neighbor won't be raring for another party in a couple decades.
    It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built -Kreia

    The internet: where to every action is opposed an unequal overreaction.

  20. #23120
    Immortal Poopymonster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jastall View Post
    Normally I'd call this skinning the bear before killing it, but coupled with the deluge of news going this way the last week or so and even the Russian media and political figures not being fully on-board the affair anymore looks like, it does seem the offensive is few things short of fully routed.

    If so, then hats off to the Ukrainians. I did not expect them to be able to do this regardless of the ineptitude of Russian forces. Putin's gamble looks to have failed and sadly it'll have a lot of consequences for people in Russia itself, but the Ukrainians still got the rawest deal by far in the long-term. Economy likely in tatters unless West sends tons of money and aid, mines everywhere, refugees leaving the country, thousands if not tens of thousands dead, and there's no certainty that the rowdy neighbor won't be raring for another party in a couple decades.
    Remember, Putin gave them until Sept 15th to get more Ukraine land.
    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    Quit using other posters as levels of crazy. That is not ok


    If you look, you can see the straw man walking a red herring up a slippery slope coming to join this conversation.

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