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"It’s a commonly held view here that Ukraine must prevail, against all odds. If Ukraine loses, Poland will likely have a brutal Russian occupation and possibly a raging insurgency on its border. Mr. Putin could turn his attention to the next bite he’s going to take out of Europe.

This is the contradiction at the bottom of every conversation I seem to have in Poland. Everybody tells me how important it is for Ukraine to win; what a catastrophe it will be if the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is defeated. He’s fighting for the security of all of Europe, they say. Yet, at the same time, nobody seems to want to give Ukraine military assistance in this existential fight. To do so would put a target on Poland’s back, and drag NATO and the United States into a nuclear confrontation with Russia. This is the geopolitical reality that ties the hands of Poland, and renders the Polish people helpless bystanders to the killings next door.

“Everybody is afraid of a third world war,” Paulina Dudzic, a software programmer from Torun, told me."

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The world has been gingerly avoiding engagement in this conflict, to the point of appeasement, but there’s no guarantee that inaction prevents escalation or that action necessarily results in WWIII, even if that’s a distinct possibility.

From my untrained perspective, I don’t think Russia is up to a conventional assault anytime soon against Poland or surrounding countries. Their military appears incompetent. A poster on Reddit noted that their performance could initially have been set to the tune of Yakety Sax, were it not for the regrettable loss of life.

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Le poète doit vivre beaucoup, vivre dans tous les sens. - Verlaine

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Marc Anthony
From my untrained perspective, I don’t think Russia is up to a conventional assault anytime soon against Poland or surrounding countries. Their military appears incompetent. A poster on Reddit noted that their performance could initially have been set to the tune of Yakety Sax, were it not for the regrettable loss of life.

Conscripts and prisoners don't make good soldiers.

Russia is allegedly employing mercenaries "from the Middle East" now to try and make up for that.

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Weeks ago in discussion with my son I felt that unfortunately the rest of the world was not going to risk it all for poor Ukraine.

This week our discussion was how this conflict has become about far more than Ukraine. A much larger picture is a stake. We learned from WWII with the Munich Agreement what appeasement can bring but nuclear weapons were not the sword of Damocles hanging over the world then.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Let's see how those Middle Eastern mercenaries work out. When fighting on behalf of their homes, they are fearless and relentless. Is a Syrian going to lay down his life for the glory of Putin?

If Putin needs to hire foreign fighters, that shows how desperate he is.

He is losing this war. He may win in the short term, but will be a massing loss on the ling term.

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gadje
but will be a massive loss in the long term.

hope so. can't help feeling bad for the 5h1t the Russian people will face when this insanity finishes through, I'd imagine, no fault of their own.

hoping for peace and quiet in Ukraine .... yesterday.
The Ukrainian people, wow.......

Watched Dunkirk last night. Not the same, but not different either.

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If Ukraine falls Russia will stop, because the NATO border will have ballooned enormously if so. And Putin can barely keep it together as it is. This isn’t appeasement; it’s adherence to how NATO was setup and this limitations.

This would all be over in a Moscow minute if someone would just take Putin out of the picture.

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It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2022 12:18AM by N-OS X-tasy!.

if only ...

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proofraed by OwEn the c@t.

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Fritz
hope so. can't help feeling bad for the 5h1t the Russian people will face when this insanity finishes through, I'd imagine, no fault of their own.

While the Russian people didn't start the war, Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

They couldn't jail _everyone_ for protesting.

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mattkime

While the Russian people didn't start the war, Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

Do you truly believe Russia has had free and fair elections in the last 20 years?

I certainly don't.

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graylocks

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mattkime

While the Russian people didn't start the war, Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

Do you truly believe Russia has had free and fair elections in the last 20 years?

I certainly don't.

Whether the election were free or fair, Putin is popular in Russia. Look at our wannabe dictator.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in."

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Speedy

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graylocks

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mattkime

While the Russian people didn't start the war, Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

Do you truly believe Russia has had free and fair elections in the last 20 years?

I certainly don't.

Whether the election were free or fair, Putin is popular in Russia. Look at our wannabe dictator.

For all practical purposes you may be right Speedy, but fwiw, keep in mind that Putin is only popular because he controls the media and therefore the peoples thoughts.

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Carnos Jax
For all practical purposes you may be right Speedy, but fwiw, keep in mind that Putin is only popular because he controls the media and therefore the peoples thoughts.

Exactly. There is no way an election is free and fair if the flow of information is controlled. Evidence the stories of people in Ukraine calling family in Russia to tell them Ukraine is under violent siege by the Russian government only to have their family members tell them they are hearing fake news.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

18 days left in March...
Joseph Stalin — March 5, 1953
Tsar Alexander II — March 13, 1881
Tsar Nicholas I — March 2, 1855
Tsar Paul I — March 24, 1801
Iván IV Vasilyevich — March 28, 1584

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graylocks

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mattkime

While the Russian people didn't start the war, Putin has been sufficiently popular to stay in office for 20 years.

Do you truly believe Russia has had free and fair elections in the last 20 years?

I certainly don't.

I didn't say they had free and fair elections, just that he was sufficiently popular to stay in power.

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mattkime

I didn't say they had free and fair elections, just that he was sufficiently popular to stay in power.

He's popular because he lies to the people about what he has done and prevents them from learning the truth. This in and of itself pollutes the electoral process.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Americans always think we’re smarter and more aware than Russians. News people talk about how Putin stifles the media.

We didn’t need anybody to do anything to turn our media against the American people. To help install the most stupid human being in existence to our highest office.

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Carnos Jax
For all practical purposes you may be right Speedy, but fwiw, keep in mind that Putin is only popular because he controls the media and therefore the peoples thoughts.

Not to mention poisoning/jailing opposition leaders.

Much like Trump wanted to do. And still does.

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vision63
We didn’t need anybody to do anything to turn our media against the American people. To help install the most stupid human being in existence to our highest office.

Not understanding where you're coming from. None of the media I respect and think legitimate has turned against the American people. Many people in America chose to follow media that is lying to them but information to the contrary is readily available. This is not the case in Russia.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

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graylocks

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vision63
We didn’t need anybody to do anything to turn our media against the American people. To help install the most stupid human being in existence to our highest office.

Not understanding where you're coming from. None of the media I respect and think legitimate has turned against the American people. Many people in America chose to follow media that is lying to them but information to the contrary is readily available. This is not the case in Russia.

I know Russians here that communicate with their people in Russia. They're not that limited when it comes to their information sources. Maybe now. They know everything we know. But they know how to use VPN's etc.

Right here in the USA, half of us hold as gospel far right news/information sources. Trump got 74 million votes. Then our "trusted" news sources such as MSNBC, CNN, NYtimes etc., spent plenty of hours vilifying Hillary Clinton in favor of that POS Sanders and his minions that are just as culpable at helping Republicans win. In fact, they want Democrats to lose.

Sorry, but that's the absolute truth.

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vision63
Then our "trusted" news sources such as MSNBC, CNN, NYtimes etc., spent plenty of hours vilifying Hillary Clinton in favor of that POS Sanders and his minions that are just as culpable at helping Republicans win. In fact, they want Democrats to lose.

dunno that I'd call Sanders a POS, but I 110% agree there were a lot of maroons stomping HRC. Bern is way too left for 3/4 of America to understand.
HRC lost because both her campaign and the Dems weren't and aren't paying attention.
The loud mouth of liberal docs, M Moore, warned the Dems months before what he was seeing in the midwest. Unfortunately, he was treated as the boy what cried wolf.
I dunno that HRC could have been elected with better thinkers, but I'm pretty sure she'd have been a pretty good pres.

Now what? Ms Harris for the next pres? Don't think that's gonna fly. I think the media and the pubs will bring up her stance on Kevin Cooper. That'll be that without anything else. Do the Dems have any more octogenarian candidates to run?
Can we please have a pres younger than me again?
I won't repeat the phrase "term limits".
oopsie ...

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proofraed by OwEn the c@t.

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Fritz

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vision63
Then our "trusted" news sources such as MSNBC, CNN, NYtimes etc., spent plenty of hours vilifying Hillary Clinton in favor of that POS Sanders and his minions that are just as culpable at helping Republicans win. In fact, they want Democrats to lose.

dunno that I'd call Sanders a POS, but I 110% agree there were a lot of maroons stomping HRC. Bern is way too left for 3/4 of America to understand.
HRC lost because both her campaign and the Dems weren't and aren't paying attention.
The loud mouth of liberal docs, M Moore, warned the Dems months before what he was seeing in the midwest. Unfortunately, he was treated as the boy what cried wolf.
I dunno that HRC could have been elected with better thinkers, but I'm pretty sure she'd have been a pretty good pres.

Now what? Ms Harris for the next pres? Don't think that's gonna fly. I think the media and the pubs will bring up her stance on Kevin Cooper. That'll be that without anything else. Do the Dems have any more octogenarian candidates to run?
Can we please have a pres younger than me again?
I won't repeat the phrase "term limits".
oopsie ...

I don't hate him. I just be mad at him. He's never acknowledged or apologized for his mess. But I shouldn't talk about him "that" bad. I don't mind losing a fair fight, but I HATE not winning.

Any Democrat can win if we spend our time "attracting" and keeping voters. Turning out the voters that we have and stop vilifying and turning off swing voters.

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vision63
… Right here in the USA, half of us hold as gospel far right news/information sources. Trump got 74 million votes. Then our "trusted" news sources such as MSNBC, CNN, NYtimes etc., spent plenty of hours vilifying Hillary Clinton …

News media took “both sides” as gospel for many decades and Republicans exploited that with “alternative facts” as being valid opinion. Jennifer Rubin has a good column about this. It goes like this:

Republican makes claim, news media reports it without question. That alone legitimizes the claim regardless of validity. Sprinkle in a headline reporting any damage, discomfort or disparity from Democrats and the die is cast.

Pick any current thing. Gas prices. Inflation. Russia. Instead of reporters asking politicians questions based on facts we see them asking questions that seek reactions. That’s not just lazy, it deletes democracy.

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Lux Interior

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Carnos Jax
For all practical purposes you may be right Speedy, but fwiw, keep in mind that Putin is only popular because he controls the media and therefore the peoples thoughts.

Not to mention poisoning/jailing opposition leaders.

Much like Trump wanted to do. And still does.

Yes, I think it's more fear than popularity.