Putin's Strategy fom here in a nutshell.

[The Hundredth Monkey 6]

[Phil1111 691]

Clearly elementary school 1173 in Moscow had some poor English language teachers.

[wolfriverjoe 1,094]

Gotta love how all the Putler apologists are pretending this is all some sort of 'master strategy', that he's going to pull 'all the elite troops he's been holding in reserve' out of somewhere (his ass?) and 'win'.

Turkey is a full NATO member. For Putler to attack them would be the end of him. Much sooner than is going to happen with what's going on now.

Geez Rhys, don't you understand that Zelensky is Jewish?
That the "Jewish Cabal" and all the "Zionist Bankers" are going to make sure he wins?

[billvon 1,943]

2 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Gotta love how all the Putler apologists are pretending this is all some sort of 'master strategy', that he's going to pull 'all the elite troops he's been holding in reserve' out of somewhere (his ass?) and 'win'.

It's a reasonable strategy.  Remember Nixon's "secret plan" to win the Vietnam War?  No one can argue with it because they don't know what it is, and if it turns out to be a lie, well - he's already president.

[Bigfalls 101]

This is a long video of an interview about Russia, Ukraine and Putin with Julia Ioffe, an American journalist who was born in Russia.  It is very interesting and worth watching.

 

 

[Phil1111 691]

46 minutes ago, Bigfalls said:

This is a long video of an interview about Russia, Ukraine and Putin with Julia Ioffe, an American journalist who was born in Russia.  It is very interesting and worth watching...

 

Well she has Putin nailed fairly closely. I don't know if the story about the cross-gift to G.W. Bush is true or not. But US presidents receive CIA briefings about political leaders prior to and after meetings like this. trump excluded of course. trump knows more than the CIA and FBI combined and doesn't read briefing notes. But I digress.

If Putin laid that story on GW. The CIA would have provided the briefing notes on him. Laying out the insecurity's of Putin's childhood. About how he uses judo to compensate. About his KGB thinking process.That the whole story was a load of b.s. and it's true purpose.

Chancellor Merkel of Germany had a similar experience with Putin in Russia. Mrs Merkel was afraid of large dogs because she was attacked and bitten. By a large dog when she was a child. So Putin shows up for the face to face with Chancellor Merkel in the Kremlin. With a large aggressive German shepherd dog in tow. She was instantly aware of exactly what Putin was trying to pull. So she put forth a stiff resolve and ignored the dog. Showing that she was not going to be intimidated by Putin's KGB psy-war stunts.

[billvon 1,943]

Hey this will be fun for the Russophiles to defend.

Apparently Russia has been taking Ukraninan children from their parents and imprisoning them in political re-education camps, camps that include military training so they can be coerced into taking up arms against their home country.  Lovely.

Let me guess - "well they are taking them from Nazi parents so they are really SAVING these kids by kidnapping them!"

https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/apps/sites/#/home/pages/children-camps-1

[wmw999 1,720]

9 hours ago, billvon said:

Hey this will be fun for the Russophiles to defend.

Apparently Russia has been taking Ukraninan children from their parents and imprisoning them in political re-education camps, camps that include military training so they can be coerced into taking up arms against their home country.  Lovely.

Let me guess - "well they are taking them from Nazi parents so they are really SAVING these kids by kidnapping them!"

https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/apps/sites/#/home/pages/children-camps-1

They’re telling the children that their parents abandoned them (at least in the story I heard).

Wendy P. 

[Phil1111 691]

On 2/13/2023 at 3:55 PM, Bigfalls said:

This is a long video of an interview about Russia, Ukraine and Putin with Julia Ioffe, an American journalist who was born in Russia.  It is very interesting and worth watching....

Here is an interview with the Latvian foreign minister. About 24% of Latvia's population has a Russian heritage. IMO they have it nailed when it comes to understanding Russia and Putin. They only respect strength and a firm response. Anything indicating weakness is to be exploited. Latvian Foreign Minister on the Ukraine war and his country's Soviet legacy | DW Interview  14 minutes-You-tube.

Edited February 16 by Phil1111

[riggerrob 498]

1 hour ago, Phil1111 said:

Here is an interview with the Latvian foreign minister. About 24% of Latvia's population has a Russian heritage. ...

Standard procedure for invaders is to import large numbers of people from the home country to dilute and eventually overwhelm natives. Estonia, Latvia, etc. all saw large waves of Russian immigrants in the aftermath of World War 2.

Communist China is doing the same thin in Tibet by building railroads and encouraging thousands of Han Chinese to move to the high plateau of Tibet. China's long-term goal is to out-number the original Mongolian/Tibetan inhabitants. What happens when Han Chinese learn that lungs and circulation are poorly-adapted to the thin air at high altitudes? Do they just accept a higher rate of pulmonary and circulation problems and die young? 

[Phil1111 691]

1 hour ago, riggerrob said:

Standard procedure for invaders is to import large numbers of people from the home country to dilute and eventually overwhelm natives. Estonia, Latvia, etc. all saw large waves of Russian immigrants in the aftermath of World War 2.

Communist China is doing the same thin in Tibet by building railroads and encouraging thousands of Han Chinese to move to the high plateau of Tibet. China's long-term goal is to out-number the original Mongolian/Tibetan inhabitants. ...

Agree Three billion US a year in subsidies to conquer Tibet demographics. NYT, 2010

[gowlerk 1,610]

2 hours ago, riggerrob said:

Communist China is doing the same thin in Tibet by building railroads and encouraging thousands of Han Chinese to move to the high plateau of Tibet. China's long-term goal is to out-number the original Mongolian/Tibetan inhabitants. What happens when Han Chinese learn that lungs and circulation are poorly-adapted to the thin air at high altitudes? Do they just accept a higher rate of pulmonary and circulation problems and die young? 

Chinese and Russian would seem to make the assumption that just because an area becomes populated with an ethic group from home those people will remain loyal to the home government. How did that go for England in the new world? Most Ukrainians speak Russian as their first language, and most don't want Russian domination.

[ryoder 1,061]

3 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Most Ukrainians speak Russian as their first language, and most don't want Russian domination.

That is not what I am seeing here:

Wikipedia: Russian language in Ukraine

According to official data from the 2001 Ukrainian census, the Russian language is native for 29.6% of Ukraine's population (about 14.3 million people).

[gowlerk 1,610]

2 minutes ago, ryoder said:

That is not what I am seeing here:

Wikipedia: Russian language in Ukraine

According to official data from the 2001 Ukrainian census, the Russian language is native for 29.6% of Ukraine's population (about 14.3 million people).

But Russian is the dominant everyday language, even though Ukrainian is the only official language. 

[billvon 1,943]

3 hours ago, riggerrob said:

Do they just accept a higher rate of pulmonary and circulation problems and die young? 

A lot of them do. Then in 3-4 generations the surviving population all have better adaptations to the high altitude.

[Phil1111 691]

7 hours ago, gowlerk said:

But Russian is the dominant everyday language, even though Ukrainian is the only official language. 

Percentage of people with Russian as their native language according to 2001 census (in regions). I think you mean in  three oblast (provinces).

From Wikipedia "The Russian Empire promoted the spread of the Russian language among the native Ukrainian population, actively refusing to acknowledge the existence of a Ukrainian language."

Edited February 17 by Phil1111

[gowlerk 1,610]

4 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

Percentage of people with Russian as their native language according to 2001 census (in regions).

Yes, but their native tongue is not the one used in daily business, or media, or popular culture. There is naturally a new wave of nationalism trying to change that. Native tongue is a somewhat deceptive term.  

[riggerrob 498]

On 2/16/2023 at 7:00 PM, Phil1111 said:

Percentage of people with Russian as their native language according to 2001 census (in regions). I think you mean in  three oblast (provinces).

From Wikipedia "The Russian Empire promoted the spread of the Russian language among the native Ukrainian population, actively refusing to acknowledge the existence of a Ukrainian language."

Why does the concentration of Russian-speakers in Sebastapol remind me of San Diego which has the mildest climate in all of the USA so that that many sailors retire to San Diego? So many admirals retire to live near San Diego harbor that enlisted sailors cannot find affordable housing within bicycle distant or the naval base. There is something inherently WRONG with enlisted sailors not being able to find affordable housing within easy commuting distance of the docks.

[JerryBaumchen 874]

5 minutes ago, riggerrob said:

Why does the concentration of Russian-speakers in Sebastapol remind me of San Diego which has the mildest climate in all of the USA so that that many sailors retire to San Diego? So many admirals retire to live near San Diego harbor that enlisted sailors cannot find affordable housing within bicycle distant or the naval base. There is something inherently WRONG with enlisted sailors not being able to find affordable housing within easy commuting distance of the docks.

Hi Rob,

Re:  many sailors retire to San Diego

One reason is that one of the largest & best US Navy hospitals is located there.  That is really important to retirees.

Jerry Baumchen

 

[riggerrob 498]

23 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Rob,

Re:  many sailors retire to San Diego

One reason is that one of the largest & best US Navy hospitals is located there.  That is really important to retirees.

Jerry Baumchen

 

Yes Jerry, Hospitals are why many Canadians retire to the big, expensive city of Vancouver, even though they could fins muuuuuuuuuch cheaper housing in old mining towns "back in the hills."