Sad news today

[BootmanLA]

I will agree with those who say that it's unlikely (though not impossible) for the masses to overthrow Putin. As long as the military and the oligarchs remain loyal to him, he's likely fairly safe. But.

The west is going after the oligarchs, to the extent of not only freezing their assets (when they find them), but seizing them - as in, they're not getting them back. They're increasingly being blocked from leaving Russia (except for China, and godforsaken places like Syria and a few others), and when most of your money is frozen overseas and inflation starts running 20% per month, suddenly Putin doesn't look like such a smart investment for those who robbed their country blind when the USSR came apart at the seams. With even the Swiss going in on the sanctions, there's not going to be any safe place for Russians to spend their money outside Russia, where it's going to be worthless.

And there are signs the military is not full-tilt behind Putin, either. They bought into (or pretended to buy into) Putin's plan that they could just steamroll into Ukraine, take over, and be welcomed as heroes of the liberation. The reality is turning out to be... quite different. The officially acknowledged (by Russia) death toll among its troops is already far in excess of what they predicted for the entire operation, which means the real number is undoubtedly substantially more than that. The troops are poorly trained (no reflection on them, it's their trainers who are at fault) and the Ukrainians have captured a goodly number of troops who surrendered rather readily. At some point, some generals are going to talk amongst themselves and question whether this dream of reassembling the Soviet empire is actually feasible.

At that point, when enough oligarchs and generals decide that the situation is becoming untenable, Putin had best be very certain his inventory of Novichok is up to date and completely accurate, with none missing.

[hntnhole]

Hopefully, all those frozen/seized rubles can be given to the Ukraine to rebuild their infrastructure, since it was those who ripped off all the dough that made it possible for Pukin to attempt this fools errand in the first place.  The Ukrainians deserve it far more than anyone else.  

[BootmanLA]

10 hours ago, hntnhole said:

Hopefully, all those frozen/seized rubles can be given to the Ukraine to rebuild their infrastructure, since it was those who ripped off all the dough that made it possible for Pukin to attempt this fools errand in the first place.  The Ukrainians deserve it far more than anyone else.  

I agree they need (and deserve) a lot of rebuilding assistance. But the oligarchs generally speaking got their money by stealing it from the Russian people, not the Ukranian people; right now, an awful lot of Russians feel for Ukraine and hate this war being levied against them, but if the ill-gotten gains of the oligarchs are showered on Ukraine and not the people from whom they were stolen, there's a serious potential for animosity.

Remember that one of the many things that led to WWII was the crushing reparations load placed on the Triple Alliance, particularly Germany, after WWI. A lot of everyday Germans were heavily taxed to pay the reparations demanded by the west, in large measure to compensate France for how much of its farmland and other resources were destroyed. No need to provoke the same response. 

[DarkroomTaker]

On 2/24/2022 at 1:43 PM, hntnhole said:

This is a day we should send our thoughts Eastward, to our brothers (ok, sisters too) in the Ukraine.  Whatever your beliefs on a wide range of issues, there are men in terrible danger, men who are indeed our "brothers", men we cannot spare.  We need all of us to be safe, secure, and alive.  No doubt there are Russian soldiers too, pressed into their armed forces who will be lost.  They too are important.  Today, and in the coming weeks, ALL lives matter.  

Totally agree with this post. Sad news of a grave level for all.

What is also sad; is these posts seems to have developed its own War.. of words.

Its a shame that with all these poor poor people displaced, Death toll risings, so much to lose worldwide for all that we cannot even have a fair civil discussion.

I aint perfect, I am not a do gooder or better than anyone else either, just saddened.

[hntnhole]

28 minutes ago, BootmanLA said:

there's a serious potential for animosity

Yes, there is that potential.  However, when all of this is over, and considering how culturally close the two populations are, I think Russian shame over what was done in their name will outweigh any potential animosity.  The Russian citizenry has been ripped off by their Government (and those who propped it up) for ages now, and I imagine they'd recognize the pattern of repetition, and not blame the Ukranians.  

re: the foolishness of the Treaty of Versailles, I agree 100%.  That was pure punishment, not just "reparations", and it led (exacerbated by the world-wide depression starting in 1929) to a hungry, out of work population of a nation that also believed in the myth of their own Lost Cause - i.e. the so-called Stab-in-the-back, which we see being resurrected currently in the US.  Those who shed crocodile tears for the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy are singing the same song as the Germans once sang.  

Unfortunately, you're entirely correct in that the depression, magnified in Germany by the reparations debacle, allowed the general population to sink into the pit of hatred of a certain religion and it's adherents.  There were a number of contenders for power, but of course, the worst one beat the rest out.  What I find interesting today is, Putin is summoning forth the ghosts of that World War to justify his rape of the Ukraine now.  I rather doubt the Russian people will fall for that old song.  As the entire world vomits at the actions of Pukin (sorry, couldn't resist) I see only escalation coming, and I just hope it doesn't lead to WW3.  There won't be anything left - maybe not anyone, either.

[PozBearWI]

Let's hope when all is said and done the punishment is directly on Putin, and less on the country of Russia who was abused by their dictator who was not fairly elected.  

[BootmanLA]

2 hours ago, JimInWisc said:

Let's hope when all is said and done the punishment is directly on Putin, and less on the country of Russia who was abused by their dictator who was not fairly elected.  

To be fair, it should fall on Putin AND on his circle of oligarchs. None of them came by their wealth honestly; they all had help from the government (particularly, Putin) in robbing the nation blind. And in return, they have helped keep him in power by cutting him in on the take, giving him the resources he needs for his propaganda.

So while I don't want the punishment to affect ordinary Russians any more than is unavoidable, I'm fine with every one of the rich baddies in Putin's inner circle losing everything and then facing legal consequences. 

[ErosWired]

“Every nation has the government it deserves.” - Joseph de Maistre

A fascinating take on this famous quotation can be found on Quora, in an answer provided by Dima Vorobiev, a former Soviet propaganda executive:

[think before following links] [think before following links] https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-of-the-idea-that-every-country-has-the-government-it-deserves

Edited March 5, 2022 by ErosWired

[BannedWord]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:26 PM, BootmanLA said:

Anyone who thinks that the pool of black women who could serve on the Supreme Court is too thin for consideration, or who think there's some sort of magic "you must be this qualified to ride this ride" measuring stick, is a fool. George HW Bush didn't select Clarence Thomas because he was "the best candidate" for the job; he picked him because he was the only Black judge with any conservative credentials. Ronald Reagan specifically promised to appoint a woman to the Court, at a time when women lawyers represented 8% of the legal profession and an even smaller percentage of the nation's judges.

Fair points. Of course, no one remembers Janice Rogers Brown. If Biden wants credit for nominating the first female black justice to the Supreme Court, we should fairly ask why he blocked Brown's nomination when George W. Bush proposed it in 2003 and kept threatening in several instances beyond that.  Unfortunately, that doesn't get much traction as a focal story. And it isn't about it just being a black woman, it's about Biden playing to a 'woke' agenda.

[think before following links] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/01/biden-black-woman-janice-rogers-brown/

[steve-tmq]

On 2/25/2022 at 8:25 PM, ErosWired said:

The previous occupant of the Oval Office basically tried to dismantle NATO

It's not possible for one country to dismantle NATO. 

That said NATO at the moment has a posture of define our selfs and sit back and watch as a country that wanted to be be part of NATO to get wiped out.

We(the west and NATO) need to understand this is just the start.  Putin is seeing how far they can push.   He will do more.  

[ErosWired]

3 hours ago, steve-tmq said:

It's not possible for one country to dismantle NATO. 

That said NATO at the moment has a posture of define our selfs and sit back and watch as a country that wanted to be be part of NATO to get wiped out.

We(the west and NATO) need to understand this is just the start.  Putin is seeing how far they can push.   He will do more.  

If the world’s largest nuclear military force ceased full cooperation with NATO, the organization might not be entirely dismantled, but its effectiveness against the aggression of the world’s second largest nuclear military force would become debatable.

Yes, Putin will do more. He’s insane, and thus no amount of rational entreaty will influence him. Any rural-born man can tell you that when a dog goes mad, what you do is get your gun and put the beast down. You have to, before it hurts somebody. Putin’s a mad dog and needs to be put down. But this particular mad dog has the ability to render the planet an uninhabitable radioactive desert, and you can’t just grab him by the scruff of the neck.

If Putin didn’t have his finger on the button of thousands of nuclear warheads, the powers of the world might be more willing to do the calculus and determine how much conventional strength might be employed to hold him in check. It may yet come to that. But a single mushroom cloud would make any such calculations meaningless in an instant.

NATO isn’t just sitting back idly and watching. NATO is desperately trying to avoid World War III.

[120DaysofSodom]

1 minute ago, ErosWired said:

NATO isn’t just sitting back idly and watching. NATO is desperately trying to avoid World War III.

I do want to point out that handing Czechoslovakia and Poland over to Hitler did not avoid the second world war. Putin is from the old school and has said the collapse of the USSR is "the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century". I dont know how much meth he was smoking when he said this, but really believes it, he wont stop at Ukraine. Moldova, which sits at the south west border of Ukraine and is the poorest country in Europe, is not a member of NATO, and will certainly go next if Ukraine falls.

[ErosWired]

15 hours ago, 120DaysofSodom said:

I do want to point out that handing Czechoslovakia and Poland over to Hitler did not avoid the second world war. Putin is from the old school and has said the collapse of the USSR is "the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century". I dont know how much meth he was smoking when he said this, but really believes it, he wont stop at Ukraine. Moldova, which sits at the south west border of Ukraine and is the poorest country in Europe, is not a member of NATO, and will certainly go next if Ukraine falls.

And Moldova has its own Russian separatist enclave, ready to offer the exact same pretext Putin is using now.

It’s true what you say about Poland and Czechoslovakia, but the difference is that Hitler didn’t have the capability to nuke the planet. NATO has to be a tad more circumspect in this case. If it weren’t for the nuclear threat, I suspect we would see a global consensus shaping up around a no-fly zone.

[TwinkChaserSlut]

16 hours ago, ErosWired said:

If the world’s largest nuclear military force ceased full cooperation with NATO, the organization might not be entirely dismantled, but its effectiveness against the aggression of the world’s second largest nuclear military force would become debatable.

Yes, Putin will do more. He’s insane, and thus no amount of rational entreaty will influence him. Any rural-born man can tell you that when a dog goes mad, what you do is get your gun and put the beast down. You have to, before it hurts somebody. Putin’s a mad dog and needs to be put down. But this particular mad dog has the ability to render the planet an uninhabitable radioactive desert, and you can’t just grab him by the scruff of the neck.

If Putin didn’t have his finger on the button of thousands of nuclear warheads, the powers of the world might be more willing to do the calculus and determine how much conventional strength might be employed to hold him in check. It may yet come to that. But a single mushroom cloud would make any such calculations meaningless in an instant.

NATO isn’t just sitting back idly and watching. NATO is desperately trying to avoid World War III.

Agree with you 100%! 

[BootmanLA]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:36 PM, TheSRQDude said:

Fair points. Of course, no one remembers Janice Rogers Brown. If Biden wants credit for nominating the first female black justice to the Supreme Court, we should fairly ask why he blocked Brown's nomination when George W. Bush proposed it in 2003 and kept threatening in several instances beyond that.  Unfortunately, that doesn't get much traction as a focal story. And it isn't about it just being a black woman, it's about Biden playing to a 'woke' agenda.

[think before following links] [think before following links] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/01/biden-black-woman-janice-rogers-brown/

The op-ed (NOT a news story, mind you) you linked to was from Marc Thiessen, who is an idiot. He slavishly adores everything that a Republican president does, even when it is directly opposite to what the last Republican president did; he supports everything a Republican president stands for, even if it's exactly 180 degrees from what the last Republican president stood for. The man is an unprincipled hack, so I put no stock whatsoever in his "opinions".

That said: I look at Janice Rogers Brown as the female Clarence Thomas: someone far outside the legal mainstream. Her record in California was ghastly; she was rated "not qualified" by the Bar Association at the time of her nomination to the California Supreme Court (she'd never served even as a trial or appellate judge at that point). She wrote, at various times, that minimum wage laws represented a socialist revolution in this country, and that post-Lochner court decisions on economic regulation were inherently wrongly decided - in fact, a position that even the ultra-right judge Robert Bork rejected.

When she was first nominated to the DC Circuit (again, leaping ahead of far more qualified judges), she was opposed by bipartisan coalition of senators, and her nomination was returned to the president. She was renominated the next term, where she again faced opposition over her abysmal record; she was only confirmed to the DC Circuit as part of a deal worked out between centrists in the Democratic party and the hard-line Republicans, when the Democrats agreed not to filibuster judicial nominees except in the most extraordinary circumstances. (Note that when the Democrats took control of the Senate, the Republicans pointedly refused to honor that same agreement, beginning to block virtually every judicial nominee. No honor, that's what the Senate GOP has.)

With barely ONE month under her belt as a DC Circuit judge, Bush began floating her name to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. In other words, just as Bush the First replaced Thurgood Marshall (the first black Justice) with the ethically and morally challenged stain that is Clarence Thomas, Bush the Second wanted to replace O'Connor, the first female justice, with this inexperienced and radical woman, thinking he could pull the same trick as his daddy - blunting criticism of the candidate from the Democrats because she was a Black woman.

It's in THAT context Biden made his remarks, which Thiessen DISHONESTLY characterizes as saying "he would filibuster and kill her nomination." The average person won't go back and look up what Biden said, but I did, and what he said was he would probably endorse a filibuster to prevent Brown from becoming a Supreme Court justice. NOT that he would personally lead the filibuster; not that he definitely would "kill" her nomination; that he would JOIN a filibuster, which might or might not succeed. As I said, Thiessen is a hack.

Interestingly, Thiessen also bewails the fact that Brown probably had "majority support" in the Senate - as though majority support should be enough to guarantee confirmation. Of course, he's the same asshole who gleefully endorsed Mitch McConnell's blocking of Merrick Garland's nomination, despite the fact that Garland's prior nomination to the DC Circuit was UNOPPOSED - far more support than Brown EVER had, for ANY nomination. As always, Thiessen the Hack is saying "do what I say, not what I do".

You're right that no one remembers Janice Rogers Brown. That's because she was an utterly forgettable failure as a judge.