- Griffinmoon
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Pence nadi: one has to wonder about them actually being there and in what condition/functionality they're in. Putin's not about shipping "empty" casings and saying they're nukes. Putin has proven he'll say anything just to rattle the opposition. Also, I have to wonder that putting them in Belarus puts them loser to somebody else swiping them right away from both Russia and Belarus, thereby taking them out of the picture entirely.
- Kokipy
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Aja Jin, a very interesting and thought provoking link you provided above. A bit depressing in regard to the assessment of Ukrainian skill to advance the counteroffensive.
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Thread Starter- Surtac
- Antipodean Assassin
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
I'm not sure that Prigozhin has failed yet. I think he has delivered to Putin the exact message he intended to: we're still here, we're popular with your citizens and your military and you, son, are now on notice. Be very careful.
Is brinkmanship a thing in Russian culture?
It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way.
- starexplorer
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Been away too long. I have been obsessed with events in Russia and Ukraine for a very long time; all the more so since the catastrophe beginning February 2022.
It occurs to me that Russian behavior looks clearer if you lived through the Cold War. The spector of nuclear war cannot be avoided. I often consider with despair that we have become so inured to the Sword of Damocles perpetually balanced above our heads. Or to use a subterranean metaphor instead, it is as if everyone in the world has a giant bomb in their basement, one that could destroy us in an instant. Why would one accept living under such conditions? Insanity? Impotence? Amnesia?
I will relate one small wry comment I heard recently. Prigozhin raised eyebrows within and without Russia when he commented that the reason for Russia’s invasion was to line the pockets of corrupt oligarchs. American political scientist John Mearsheimer raised my own ire at the beginning of this atrocity by arguing that the West was to blame, due to NATO expansion, and that Great Powers will defend their spheres of influence.
The comment I heard was “I’d love to see a debate between Prigozhin and Mearsheimer.” 😏
One world -- or none
- Kokipy
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Our French neighbor shared Mearsheimer’s views in January 2022- influenced by Le Monde, his primary source of news. But after the invasion he changed his mind about who was responsible for this hideous war.
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Thread Starter- Surtac
- Antipodean Assassin
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Apropos to not much, I was reminded of the nuclear war topic again a couple of days back. I saw Christopher Nolan's new film Oppenheimer on Thursday, the first day of release over here. It certainly reinforced the inevitability of nuclear weapons proliferation and expansion after the genie was released from the bottle. It also highlighted the futility in thinking that the genie could be kept in the bottle in the first place.
It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way.
- starexplorer
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Surtac wrote:
Apropos to not much, I was reminded of the nuclear war topic again a couple of days back. I saw Christopher Nolan's new film Oppenheimer on Thursday, the first day of release over here. It certainly reinforced the inevitability of nuclear weapons proliferation and expansion after the genie was released from the bottle. It also highlighted the futility in thinking that the genie could be kept in the bottle in the first place.
Really looking forward to this one. The topic incorporates so much that has captured my interest over my life: WWII as a central modern historical event/catastrophe; the intellectual and physical explosion of 20th century physics; the genius of the physicists who brought about that scientific revolution; Oppenheimer himself, always a fascinating, puzzling and tragic figure…
As far as the genie - all the more so now. It’s a 75 yer old technology. It’s not mysterious. I like Einstein’s statement:
”The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe“
One world -- or none
- starexplorer
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Re: Watching the news from Russia:
Our French neighbor shared Mearsheimer’s views in January 2022- influenced by Le Monde, his primary source of news. But after the invasion he changed his mind about who was responsible for this hideous war.
Yes. I have heard citizens of the Baltic states scoff at Mearsheimer’s thesis, arguing NATO expansion is the only reason they still live in independent countries….
One world -- or none
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