No assertion from me, you clarified your statement.
Bit of a manspreader.
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That’s an understatement considering he is trying to spread into Ukraine.
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Be very careful about the demonisation of anything Russian.
It’s playing into Putin’s agenda. Suppression of religious faiths is a concerning issue in countries being supported for their democratic leanings.
ADD
BTW, did you revise one of your posts to remove the reference to being incorrect?
I distinctly recall responding to such reference.
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This was a good listen, thanks.
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The Ukrainians aren’t demonizing the russian orthodox church, they want to ban them for being agents of Putinism. It isn’t even suppression of a religious faith, it is eradication of subversion against the state. I support the Ukrainians making their own decisions.
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Nice photo
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It’s always perfidious Albion in their heads isn’t it? Black sea scuba, Nordstream, mercenaries. If Bond is too sophisticated for them maybe they grew up on Danger Mouse.
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“Supposedly elite”
UK Def being snarky.
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I read that there is an app to locate the Invincible energy stations.
How easy would it be for Russia to target those stations?
Better translated into English as “Points of Indestructibility”. They will mostly be tents and other structures with power coming from generators. In case of wide spread outages, these places will be refuges - in effect, Ukraine is decentralizing its power system.
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To do this they will need a lot more generators. That is what Macron was referring to:
They are also going to need a lot of fuel.
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That is a very important argument to keep in mind when would-be strategists ■■■ armchair generals start pontificating about the death of the tank.
(and apparently, the sw algorithm here doesn’t like latin, lol)
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Most of the tweets in that thread were along similar lines.
But he was indeed “a little too enthusiastic for the official position”. I think rather more than a little too enthusiastic, to the point of parody - so I am still perplexed as to why, and what it means.
I gather the official line is supposed to be “we must not lose”. But instead of uniting people around that reasonably coherent recovery from previous media disarray he seemed to be undermining it with active defeatism wrapped in pretended overenthusiasm that forced others on the panel to distance themselves.
I am sensitive to these nuances because it is a characteristic feature of what I call the “pseudoleft” to undermine actual left politics by actively driving people away from it.
BTW today’s Katz video has really good warnings against this stuff within the Russian opposition where some people are pushing away the people starting to protest against the regime because they are motivated by not wanting to die for it rather than because it is killing Ukrainians. There is a lot of hostility to Russians in general in Ukraine and among Ukraine supporters outside, which writes off the developing movement essential for ending the regime.
New wave of protesting Russians | How not to push them away (English subtitles)
Much better guidance for dealing with Russian political dynamics than yesterdays description of an American school experiment.
I hope he updates his analysis of Russian propaganda to explain recent oddities.
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I am in favour of uniting all forces that can be united and not expecting allies to have pure motives.
BTW today’s Katz video is very good on this.
That unavoidably includes uniting with the USA in this situation despite their notorious unreliability as allies. But it is important to keep in mind that at least their arms industry might well prefer to keep the war running longer rather than accelerate an end to the regime.
My question is at what point should the US (and EU) continue to try to drag on this war (if that is their intent). To the total collapse of the Russian armed forces? or just enough that they are not a threat for the next 20 years?
If they just provide enough so that Ukraine does not lose, but not enough for Russian regime to lose then things could end up in a sort of half frozen conflict, with or without a formal armistice, let alone peace.
Interesting that Arestoyvich is emphasizing the issue of Russian de nuclearization as well as war crimes trials and reparations and is optimistic that this is now part of the wider Western agenda. Reparations and war crimes trials could sort of be fudged by international tribunals confiscating Russian assets abroad and pronouncing sentences in absentia. But de nuclearization would unambiguously require a new regime that agreed to accept and implement it.
A total collapse might see some opportunistic moves from South,Central and Easter Asia countries to “stabilize” the situation or act on historical claims of territory or influence.
I haven’t given that much thought as my focus is on democratic revolution in Russia itself. Break aways at the periphery would be part of that but a democratic government in Moscow and St Petersburg would simply accept their independence without providing an opportunity for opportunistic neighbours to “stablize” by grabbing territory.
We may be close to that point of balance. So, what would that mean for UA and the future of Crimea? Turkey might be the one that breaks with the current and continue supporting past the tipping point all the while being “helpful” on the negotiating table.
I don’t think we close yet, though the end of the regime is, as Katz just said “visible”. Interesting point about Turkey. I was aware that the continuous denigration of Turkey’s position makes no sense in the light of its actual relations with Russia but, it had not occurred to me that Turkey has its own interests actually more supportive of ending the regime than others.
Does make sense. Ukraine certainly seems to be relying on Turkey for long term joint ventures in arms industry etc and Turkey would be more important than the rest of NATO for Black Sea and Crimea.
What would a collection of newly independent Central and Eastern Asian Republics like? who would they turn to for economic/diplomatic support?
No idea. But I am reasonably optimistic that it would be up to them. The age of empires is ending.
BTW the link provided by @bigallen looks interesting for analysis on Eurasia:
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