OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/JMeanypants/status/1505966978644815883?s=20&t=f2QX1uT_xpxzWXO8qNzbBw

lousubcap

A few comments on Russia-Ukraine from news feeds:
"RUSSIA, UKRAINE – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday in an interview with a Ukrainian public broadcaster that any compromises reached to bring an end to the Russian invasion would need to be approved by the Ukrainian people in a referendum. Rachel Pannett reports for the Washington Post. 

Zelenskyy has again called for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he is ready for a compromise to end the war. Zelenskyy said that the status of contested territories in the Donbas region and the Crimea could be up for negotiation and that Kyiv was willing to shelve its NATO ambition in exchange for the withdrawal of Russian forces. “At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues,” he said late on Monday in an interview with Ukrainian television channels. Al Jazeera reports.

Zelenskyy said today that he has spoken to Pope Francis and would welcome the Holy See’s mediating role with Russia. Reuters reports. "

lousubcap

NM-

Canugghead

https://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2022/03/public-attitudes-to-ukraine-conflict-by-vaccine-acceptance/

lousubcap

That's an interesting way to sort the respondents.  Consistent in the sort.  
Would be insightful if the same survey was run here.  Probably look similar given the recent media responses from Cheeto.  

Canugghead

lousubcap said:

That's an interesting way to sort the respondents.  Consistent in the sort.  
Would be insightful if the same survey was run here.  Probably look similar given the recent media responses from Cheeto.  

Indeed. Would also be interesting to see a survey of anti vaxxers' sentiments towards immigrants. Speaking of immigrants, Canada has the largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine and Russia.

JohnInCarolina

Canugghead said:

https://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2022/03/public-attitudes-to-ukraine-conflict-by-vaccine-acceptance/

Fear of immigrants, at its heart, is fear of the unknown.  Same thing with new vaccines, in all likelihood.  I'm not surprised to see the correlation.  

fishlessman

Canugghead said:

lousubcap said:

That's an interesting way to sort the respondents.  Consistent in the sort.  
Would be insightful if the same survey was run here.  Probably look similar given the recent media responses from Cheeto.  

Indeed. Would also be interesting to see a survey of anti vaxxers' sentiments towards immigrants. Speaking of immigrants, Canada has the largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine and Russia.

willing to trade 3 mara salvatrucas for 10 ukraine, we dont have enough ukranians

nolaegghead

All this really boils down to which shepherd the sheeple are following. 

Russian propaganda is simply right-wing propaganda.  The world-over, this has evolved into a fairly homogeneous message in terms of an underlying paradigm.   That is simply: Western democracy is bad.

Canugghead

fishlessman said:

Canugghead said:

lousubcap said:

That's an interesting way to sort the respondents.  Consistent in the sort.  
Would be insightful if the same survey was run here.  Probably look similar given the recent media responses from Cheeto.  

Indeed. Would also be interesting to see a survey of anti vaxxers' sentiments towards immigrants. Speaking of immigrants, Canada has the largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine and Russia.

willing to trade 3 mara salvatrucas for 10 ukraine, we dont have enough ukranians

thanks but no thanks

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

Excerpts from a news feed this AM:

"RUSSIA, UKRAINE – GLOBAL RESPONSE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Andriy Yermak has said. "Kyiv is hopeful Beijing will play a more prominent role in bringing this war to an end," Yermak tweeted. Robert Wall report for the Wall Street Journal. 

Antonia Guterres, the U.N. Security General, has said that from his own outreach efforts with “various actors,” “elements of diplomatic progress are coming into view of several key issues.” In a speech delivered outside the Security Council in New York, he urged Russia to “move from the battlefield to the peace table”, adding that the war is “unwinnable” and that there is “enough on the table” for an immediate ceasefire. UN News Centrereports. 

The U.S. and other Western nations are considering a move to potentially exclude Russia from the G20. The U.S. and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the group of twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions have said. However, any bid to exclude Russia would likely be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings, the sources added. Angie Teo and Stanley Widianto report for Reuters. 

The Kremlin has accused the U.S. of putting pressure on other countries to have Russia removed from the G20. "It is well-known that the United States exerts overt and hardly diplomatic pressure on all countries in terms of all-round opposition to our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call, adding that “a number of states prefer to adhere to their independent, sovereign points of view.” Reuters reports. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that sending peacekeepers to Ukraine could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and the NATO military alliance. His comments came after Poland said last week that an international peacekeeping mission should be sent to Ukraine and be given the means to defend itself. Reuters reports. 

The U.S. and NATO believe that Belarus could “soon” join Russia in its war against Ukraine and that the country is already taking steps to do so.Natasha Bertrand, Vasco Cotovio, Jennifer Hansley and Jim Sciutto report for CNN. "

Cornholio

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbRIkYujz0K/?utm_medium=copy_link

  

JohnInCarolina

Cornholio said:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbRIkYujz0K/?utm_medium=copy_link

  

This is vile, hateful stuff.  A portion of the governor of Utah’s recent statement on trans sports in his own state:

 

Kayak

Excerpts from a couple recent articles:

Putin's Bombers Could Devastate Ukraine But He's Holding Back. Here's Why 
As destructive as the Ukraine war is, Russia is causing less damage and killing fewer civilians than it could, U.S. intelligence experts say. Newsweek/MSN

No Indication of Imminent Russian Chemical Weapons Attack in Ukraine -U.S. Defense Official
The United States has not yet seen any concrete indications of an imminent Russian chemical or biological weapons attack in Ukraine but is closely monitoring streams of intelligence for them, a senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday. Reuters/USN&WR

lousubcap

Who's pulling the strings???
"Top Russian military and defense leaders have repeatedly declined over the past month attempts from their U.S. counterparts to speak, prompting fears that the world’s two largest nuclear powers may be “sleepwalking into war.” The Russians “have so far declined to engage” with the attempts to speak by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has said in a statement. John Hudson reports for the Washington Post."

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1506755025569296386?s=20&t=1q3nRu3-KV5vljAwmyAkVA

lousubcap

A few paragraphs from a news feed today regarding the near-term way ahead in the Russia-Ukraine war:
"A word of caution for Western officials: "Putin definitely knows how to build and exploit leverage," Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace warned Wednesday. "Take Putin's unexpected announcement that EU countries will now have to pay for natural gas shipments in rubles, not euros. That move, plus a Russian-directed shutdown of the Caspian Pipeline (1 mln/bpd), are pushing oil prices back to the $120 level today," that is Wednesday.
Perhaps the biggest question, Weiss says, looms as large now as it did three weeks ago: "How long will it take to starve the Russian war machine?" And that suggests that "the West is entering a pain contest with Vladimir Putin. Can Joe Biden tolerate an uninterrupted spike in energy prices and the pass-through to inflation from other disruptions in global commodities markets and supply chains?"
Weiss's framing is similar to what Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the New York Times described when she tweeted 11 days ago: "Putin is betting that the unity the democratic West is exhibiting will dissipate under the weight of refugees and high gas and food prices. The West is betting that sanctions and isolation will pressure the authoritarian Kremlin to buckle. This is a fight over which system will win.""

HeavyG

JohnInCarolina said:

Cornholio said:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbRIkYujz0K/?utm_medium=copy_link

  

This is vile, hateful stuff.  A portion of the governor of Utah’s recent statement on trans sports in his own state:

 

I read Gov. Cox's letter yesterday and when I got to that last page I teared up a bit.

There may not be a lot that Gov. Cox and I would agree on politically but every time I have seen him in the news and have listened to him I know that he is an intelligent, thoughtful, rational, reasonable, brave, and truly caring person and I have a lot of respect for him. Pity that the GOP (and the Dems for that matter) doesn't have more like him.

Gulfcoastguy

Well the Ukrainians sank a Russian amphibious ship in the harbor near Maripol yesterday. Add to that a minimum of 10,000 dead and close to twice that wounded. Then the Russians can't even build replacement tanks due to a lack of imported parts. They have been trying to get Syrians, Chechkins, and Belarusians to jump in. 

nolaegghead

The Russian army has plenty of vehicles, but there's def a resource issue in keeping them working.

Equipment summary

Figures listed as "Active" only include equipment that circulated in active service.

Type	Active	Reserve
Main battle tanks	2,800[107]	≈16,500[108][109]
Infantry fighting vehicles	5,160[107]	≈19,500[107]
Armoured personnel carriers	6,100[107]	≈18,000+[107]
Towed artillery	150[107]	≈12,415[107]
Self-propelled artillery	1,610[107]	≈4,260[107]
Rocket artillery	1,352[110]
SAM systems	2,531[111]

nolaegghead

In comparison, the US Army has 8700 tanks, most of which are superior technologically speaking, but way more than we need.  Also half a million USTs, which is totally off topic but a fun stat.

dmchicago

I caught a UST once from a questionable bidet. 

Not fun, fellas. Not fun. 

nolaegghead

dmchicago said:

I caught a UST once from a questionable bidet. 

Not fun, fellas. Not fun. 

First step is getting it tested.  Typically it's tested for BTEX, so you'll see that if it's leaking or not.  But you can also get a hydrocarbon profile, figure out what's been in it.  They ooze and leak for years, contaminating all your loved ones.  Terrible.  Terrible.  Often the only solution is digging them out. Not pretty.

Ozzie_Isaac

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-doesnt-realize-how-much-warfare-has-changed/627600/q

Many tidbits in here.  Two that stood out:

1. Mobile crematoriums so they don't see so many body bags going back to Russia.

2. Russian encrypted communication relies in 3G towers.  One of the first things Russia did was destroy all the 3G towers.  Oops.

For those who may not know, battlefield communication and coordination is critical to success, always has been.  In today's complex  battlefield environment instantaneous communication is even more important.  Forward fire teams coordinating with battefield groups, artillery, air support, and command is key to success.  Ukraine has the intelligence and the communication.  The disparity in outcomes is amazing right now especially given the disparity in force sizes.

U_tarded

JohnInCarolina said:

Cornholio said:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbRIkYujz0K/?utm_medium=copy_link

  

This is vile, hateful stuff.  A portion of the governor of Utah’s recent statement on trans sports in his own state:

 

As a resident of the state of Utah this surprised me.  Cox was assistant governor for many years and I figured he just tow the line like his predecessor,  The dominant party here likes to push their agenda no matter without regard to the facts like Cox did staring the negative impact that something like this might have on a already marginalized segment of the population.  

lousubcap

The Russia-Ukraine war, a few paragraphs:
"China’s ambassador to the U.S. has said that Beijing’s “no limits” friendship with Moscow, does in fact have limits, as Chinese President Xi Jinping faces increasing pressure from the West to distance himself from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Lyric Li reports for the Washington Post. 

Speaking as he returned from the NATO summit, Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend or next week, said that he would urge Putin to make an “honourable exit” from Ukraine by becoming an “architect” of a peace deal with Kyiv. Laura Pitel reports for the Financial Times. "

Ozzie_Isaac

lousubcap said:

The Russia-Ukraine war, a few paragraphs:
"China’s ambassador to the U.S. has said that Beijing’s “no limits” friendship with Moscow, does in fact have limits, as Chinese President Xi Jinping faces increasing pressure from the West to distance himself from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Lyric Li reports for the Washington Post. 

Speaking as he returned from the NATO summit, Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend or next week, said that he would urge Putin to make an “honourable exit” from Ukraine by becoming an “architect” of a peace deal with Kyiv. Laura Pitel reports for the Financial Times. "

China: Our Friendship with Russia knows no bounds!
Russia:. Hold my beer, this is gonna be fun.

Jokes aside, China thinks the rest of the world operates like they do.  The really have limited experience in the world political stage.  They are getting a master class in politics right now.  Rule one, never talk in absolutes.  Rule 2, Russians rulers will always be crazy and rhe reason villians have Russian accents.

dbCooper

Going a bit off-topic from the regular items in this thread, still may be "worth a mainstream read" for some here.  I have a background in IT/OT security, thus implemented cryptography in various computer systems.  Along with that comes an appreciation for the people that design robust crypto schemes.  Gustavus Simmons is high on the list for such admiration.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Simmons  

He has written a memoir of sorts about his early days, growing up dirt poor in depression era West Virginia.  I'm only about a third of the way in, finding it fascinating.  Note it's about 200 pages...

https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Gus/atapas.pdf

lousubcap

I read both sides and a lot of no sides feeds:  Give this a go:

GOV AND MARRIAGE

Everything you thought was happening behind the scenes during the Trumpian attempt to overturn the 2020 election was actually happening—with the caveat that it was all a lot worse than you imagined. And now we've learned that Ginni Thomas, wife of SCOTUS Justice Clarence, sent at least 29 text messages to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in an unhinged effort to push the team to somehow invalidate America's free and fair presidential election. Ginni's full-throated support of the big lie included gems like this: "Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!...You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History." The courtship of Clarence and Ginni is none of our business, but the Court is, and in this case, the groom is wearing a judge's robe and the bride is wearing her divorced-from-reality views on her sleeve. Our union is supposed to be stronger than theirs. The heart wants what the heart wants, but so does the Constitution. At the very least, Justice Thomas should match his wife's irreconcilable differences with the electoral system with a conscious uncoupling from any case related January 6th and the big lie. But, alas, it's too late for that. "This January, Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter in a proceeding in which Trump asked the Court to stop the House investigative committee from obtaining records of his communications relating to efforts to subvert the 2020 election results." From Jane Meyer in The New Yorker: Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas's 'Stop the Steal' Texts. Aside from the matters of law and judicial ethics, it's deeply concerning how high up the chain the crackpot conspiracy theories and rabid religious beliefs traveled. Little did we know that when Clarence and Ginni's marriage was consummated, the whole country would be getting screwed. Maybe Supreme Court appointments should come with a prenup.

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