tadmjones

No one can say what Putin believes , as we can not say what someone believes unless they tell us and even then a question of veracity can still linger. I’d wager Putin/Russia’s motivations for the current military aggression is aligned with their strategic and tactical territorial control. My feelings about Putin’s internal motivations tend toward a strong nationalism , but that this may not extend to a sincere desire to ensure every single ethnic Russian actually enjoys whatever rights or privileges that may entail. I have the sense that in his calculations some of ‘them’ are expendable for a broader cause. Just like Bush and his cronies and all such hawkish, neocon types. And I further assume both such groups have little regard for the civilian populations subject to their actions , unless somehow that a seeming regard can be used to their benefit. As an American , I say fuck the Ukraine government and fuck the Russian government, and fuck Bush and any American regime that would perpetrate situations a la the invasion of Iraq. To me it seems like deja vu all over again , we the US armed al Queda in Afghanistan to out the Ruskies and now in Ukraine we have a strengthened 2.0 version incorporating a color revolution , intensified arms and training support and for whatever reason have let this escalate to open conversations of nuclear exchange. Wtf

Well , I hope you feel better soon.

Okay EC, EC okay. Given where I live , I’d almost hope for quick vaporization to be spared the pain of watching my family and wider community die more slowly from radiation poisoning and starvation which unfortunately would be the likely outcome for most if the current or any similar events cause a civilization ending nuclear exchange.

EC The annexation of Crimea was carried out by a weak Russia? The subsequent overt bolstering of Ukraine’s military capabilities by NATO powers was in response to a perceived weakness in Russia’s ability to project military actions ? These are examples of the reasoning you used in your assessment/ predictions?

EC Are your certain predictions describing Russian/Putin actions in Ukraine circa 2014 or the more overt and highly militarized aggression of February of 2022?

Stephen Thank you for the link , now it makes sense that Oliver Stone called Putin a ‘son of Russia’ . It also appears his(their) long term strategies tend to be centered on just that , the long term. So perhaps dastardly, but not so much blow up civilization and ruin future trade dastardly, or that would be a lot of planning for no benefit, and ruthless and dastardly as we know Russians to be , plain stupid they are not , yes?

Stephen While I agree with your overall frame of the history of the use of US military power I somewhat cynically see the power of jingoism in the frame to ‘justify’ the use of that power. In concrete and pragmatic ways , how does this present conflict between (historically ‘The’) Ukraine and Russia even fit that ‘reason’ for ‘helping’ Ukraine? I would most likely work to consciously suppress my inner cynic if Russia had invaded Italy or Spain , in 2014 or today.

Is Putin a dictator , is every aspect of Russia or the RF firmly under his personal control ? I do not honestly know the answer to that question , I do believe he is a leader in a system that tolerates or even encourages rather authoritarian leadership by western or US standards . But I do not know enough about the nation and culture of Russia to be certain that he can exercise the ‘same amount’ of power as one would ascribe to a leader in North Korea or akin to Hitler’s Third Reich. I would assume western propaganda plays a part in the cartoonish characterizations of Putin as Satan. I assume he has to be somewhat political domestically, even if it is to only placate the oligarchs that rose from the fall of the Politburo, but I am practically ignorant of the ‘real view on the ground’ of current Russian society. I further assume that the whole of ‘Russia’ ,all of its territories and its influence on the control of the Russian Federation , is a rather diverse society. Like a confederation of smaller and rather distinct ethnicities , cultures, religious groups ect , that ethnic Russians and Moscow/ Kremlin feel the ‘right’ and or obligation to be the seat of power. Again just my relatively non informed opinion and view. But if he is in fact Satan incarnate And has no compunction against nuclear exchange , threatening a preemptive decapitating nuclear strike doesn’t seem like a real good rational ‘play’. Actively prolonging the armed conflict doesn’t make sense , unless seen through some extra national jingoism. Russia or Putin , even if they denote the same thing , is using/did use military force to ensure their control of that region and its coastlines and pipelines and against would what ‘they’ plainly see and describe as NATO encroachment. In what specific ways does it benefit the USA which entity controls Crimea or the Black Sea ?

Not only a waste of money , but objectively prolonging death and destruction to no better end , eh ?

Well your battle station managers gave the keys to kingdom to the Corleones. That situation may play into all of ‘our’ value pursuits , let’s hope those advances change the nature of the managers and the skinflint in chief. Rand also said things about pursuit of knowledge qua pursuit.

Cohen must really have been linked into Putin's Q , spouting all that propaganda before Q made its first appearance.

You could say there is a right to suicide , but no right to have someone ‘perform’ it for you. Is to say or find , that a woman has a right to end the development of her offspring , the same thing as saying someone other than the mother has a right to end that development?

DM By “people out there” are referring to ‘non’ oists? I think most people have at least the implicit idea that the nature of government is force.

Aside from a continuing pregnancy creating an immediate medical harm/emergency to the woman , what would be a moral justification for another individual to take purposeful volitional action to kill the fetus ? I can relate to the construction of a legal designation that would /could absolve an abortionist from criminal liability , but subjectively throughout my adult life my estimation of the morality of abortionists’ actions has yet to be settled. I haven’t be able to resolve the apparent dichotomy between the abstraction of abortion as opposed to ‘all cause ‘ end of pregnancy. Ie a ‘happy miscarriage ‘ as opposed to a late term abortion. Just real glad I emerged from the fetal stage intact.

I agree, but I was pointing to the fact that all legislatures are ‘showing disdain ‘ for property and free association rights by acquiescing to laws that force property owners to prove they are not discriminating against or choosing not to do business with individuals based on race or creed, at least given the current jurisprudence those state legislatures are being consistent.