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

Botch

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb) was interviewed on CBS this morning, and said a few interesting things.
I was aware that the wealthy Russian oligarchs invest very heavily in putin (in fact some believe that putin is actually the wealthiest human on the planet), in return for putin's gov't "looking the other way" when those oligarchs plunder from the general populace.  What I didn't know was a lot of these oligarchs live in Europe and especially Britain, not Russia.  
Senator Sasse said all those European countries should deport those oligarchs back to Russia, because they know what a sh*thole it is.  Maybe if they're more directly under the sanctions that are being put on Russia, support for putin may weaken.  
 
Beau of the Fifth Column did a video yesterday on something I've felt for many years; how do you defeat a nuclear power?  You can start winning on a (usually) third-party (proxy war) battlefield, but once you advance in that actual power's own back yard, and threaten to topple that power, that's when a desperate despot (WWBAGNFARB) will push the red button.  You need to get the general populace of that power to overthrow their own government, that's the only way to do it.  Easier said than done, I know.  And Senator Sasse also mentioned that 60% of all Russians believe this war was started by NATO/the US (that's why state control of the press is so dangerous, and so desireable to a despot (ahem)).  Perhaps if all the oligarchs lose their privilege and status, that overthrow, or at least a change, can at least be seeded.  
 
Gave me a bit to think about this morning.  

Botch

Hah!  And then THIS pops up on farcebook!
 
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-billionaires-lose-39-billion-dollars-one-day-ukraine-invasion-2022-2?fbclid=IwAR1I9iG1GYeXmVwypPGNiGln85KzZ50HMcbMYq50EImD1ZaJ7zSshiSqIWk
 
  

JohnInCarolina

I just hope we can put to rest this notion that Putin isn’t actually as bad as he’s been described by Western media.  He seems plenty bad, as evidenced by this invasion of choice, jailing of protesters, assassinations of journalists, and an overall love for Polonium.

Eoin

Botch said:

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb) was interviewed on CBS this morning, and said a few interesting things.
I was aware that the wealthy Russian oligarchs invest very heavily in putin (in fact some believe that putin is actually the wealthiest human on the planet), in return for putin's gov't "looking the other way" when those oligarchs plunder from the general populace.  What I didn't know was a lot of these oligarchs live in Europe and especially Britain, not Russia.  
Senator Sasse said all those European countries should deport those oligarchs back to Russia, because they know what a sh*thole it is.  Maybe if they're more directly under the sanctions that are being put on Russia, support for putin may weaken.  
 
Beau of the Fifth Column did a video yesterday on something I've felt for many years; how do you defeat a nuclear power?  You can start winning on a (usually) third-party (proxy war) battlefield, but once you advance in that actual power's own back yard, and threaten to topple that power, that's when a desperate despot (WWBAGNFARB) will push the red button.  You need to get the general populace of that power to overthrow their own government, that's the only way to do it.  Easier said than done, I know.  And Senator Sasse also mentioned that 60% of all Russians believe this war was started by NATO/the US (that's why state control of the press is so dangerous, and so desireable to a despot (ahem)).  Perhaps if all the oligarchs lose their privilege and status, that overthrow, or at least a change, can at least be seeded.  
 
Gave me a bit to think about this morning.  

Send them back and their kids too - thousands of Russian rich kids are at private schools here. They don't want their kids back in Russia either.

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb) was interviewed on CBS this morning, and said a few interesting things.
I was aware that the wealthy Russian oligarchs invest very heavily in putin (in fact some believe that putin is actually the wealthiest human on the planet), in return for putin's gov't "looking the other way" when those oligarchs plunder from the general populace.  What I didn't know was a lot of these oligarchs live in Europe and especially Britain, not Russia.  
Senator Sasse said all those European countries should deport those oligarchs back to Russia, because they know what a sh*thole it is.  Maybe if they're more directly under the sanctions that are being put on Russia, support for putin may weaken.  
 

I'm guessing Sasse probably didn't mention the extent of oligarch and Russian mob money that's also behind quite a bit of right-wing politicians here in the US, huh?  

Eoin

JohnInCarolina said:

Botch said:

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb) was interviewed on CBS this morning, and said a few interesting things.
I was aware that the wealthy Russian oligarchs invest very heavily in putin (in fact some believe that putin is actually the wealthiest human on the planet), in return for putin's gov't "looking the other way" when those oligarchs plunder from the general populace.  What I didn't know was a lot of these oligarchs live in Europe and especially Britain, not Russia.  
Senator Sasse said all those European countries should deport those oligarchs back to Russia, because they know what a sh*thole it is.  Maybe if they're more directly under the sanctions that are being put on Russia, support for putin may weaken.  
 

I'm guessing Sasse probably didn't mention the extent of oligarch and Russian mob money that's also behind quite a bit of right-wing politicians here in the US, huh?  

Same here. Millions donated to conservative politicians.

Botch

Thanks for the above info guys.  A friend in Norway posted this, its not just the oligarchs:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/23/obsession-sanctions-oligarchs-putin-hurt-russian-leader-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR3CfiABirQr27ZrhJktBMyGMtr2RnHmQNcx-ZQNHAxA5K7OaSL_7CIHSd4
 

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1497194009038626842?s=20&t=SJjmkfQ2haQmhxY7PPcP9A

Eoin

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1497194009038626842?s=20&t=SJjmkfQ2haQmhxY7PPcP9A

We'll all regret it if we don't accept a bit of pain now.

JohnInCarolina

Eoin said:

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1497194009038626842?s=20&t=SJjmkfQ2haQmhxY7PPcP9A

We'll all regret it if we don't accept a bit of pain now.

There have been more than a few reports this week of leaders being reluctant to take certain punitive steps against Putin and Russia because they "do a lot of business with Russia".  You hear this kind of thing and start to realize how it is that the Munich Agreement came to pass.     

Gulfcoastguy

And Italy got a carve out so Gucci could continue selling shoes and purses to Russia's oligarchs.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

And Italy got a carve out so Gucci could continue selling shoes and purses to Russia's oligarchs.

Really?  Wow.  I hadn't heard that!

Eoin

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

And Italy got a carve out so Gucci could continue selling shoes and purses to Russia's oligarchs.

Really?  Wow.  I hadn't heard that!

Luxury goods excluded from sanctions.

nolaegghead

Botch said:

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb) was interviewed on CBS this morning, and said a few interesting things.
I was aware that the wealthy Russian oligarchs invest very heavily in putin (in fact some believe that putin is actually the wealthiest human on the planet), in return for putin's gov't "looking the other way" when those oligarchs plunder from the general populace.  What I didn't know was a lot of these oligarchs live in Europe and especially Britain, not Russia.  
Senator Sasse said all those European countries should deport those oligarchs back to Russia, because they know what a sh*thole it is.  Maybe if they're more directly under the sanctions that are being put on Russia, support for putin may weaken.  
 
Beau of the Fifth Column did a video yesterday on something I've felt for many years; how do you defeat a nuclear power?  You can start winning on a (usually) third-party (proxy war) battlefield, but once you advance in that actual power's own back yard, and threaten to topple that power, that's when a desperate despot (WWBAGNFARB) will push the red button.  You need to get the general populace of that power to overthrow their own government, that's the only way to do it.  Easier said than done, I know.  And Senator Sasse also mentioned that 60% of all Russians believe this war was started by NATO/the US (that's why state control of the press is so dangerous, and so desireable to a despot (ahem)).  Perhaps if all the oligarchs lose their privilege and status, that overthrow, or at least a change, can at least be seeded.  
 
Gave me a bit to think about this morning.  

I was just thinking earlier that Putin may be the richest man on earth.  He owns an entire country.  The oligarchs are terrified of him at some level, he will kill them and their family anywhere in the world.  And Putin is one of the most protected people in the world, virtually untouchable.

nolaegghead

JohnInCarolina said:

Eoin said:

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1497194009038626842?s=20&t=SJjmkfQ2haQmhxY7PPcP9A

We'll all regret it if we don't accept a bit of pain now.

There have been more than a few reports this week of leaders being reluctant to take certain punitive steps against Putin and Russia because they "do a lot of business with Russia".  You hear this kind of thing and start to realize how it is that the Munich Agreement came to pass.     

Putin is notorious for his collection of "kompromat" on everyone with power.  Makes you wonder if, for example, Boris's Jonhson isn't in that vault in full color (and I'm sure, highly magnified out of necessity).

One of the big mysteries of the big cheeto's obsession with Putin, since the cheeto is only motivated by ego or money, is why - given he's such a transactional person, what the other side of those brown nosed transactions consisted of?  (the hilariously meme-able "pee-tape" is an example here). 

nolaegghead

Eoin said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

And Italy got a carve out so Gucci could continue selling shoes and purses to Russia's oligarchs.

Really?  Wow.  I hadn't heard that!

Luxury goods excluded from sanctions.

You would think the luxury good sanctions would hit them where it hurt more so than non-luxury goods.  The big losers in most of the sanctioned countries are the poor citizens, and they are always mostly poor, no mystery there.  Good case in point - North Korea.

Hard to blame all the ignorant pitchfork wielding folk yelling "Death to America" when all their news and information is filtered by their despotic overlords. 

That leads to the question - how much should we hold our own people responsible for believing propaganda when it's not government filtered but done by choice in giant confirmation bubbles?   The "big lie" where Trump actually won the election is believed by something like 60% of self-proclaimed GOP.   That's some scary sh*t.

dmchicago

I don’t know what Pornhub is but I thought this was funny. 

Botch

^^^ Was just preparing to post that same pic.  
Check out pr0nHub's "GoPro/bidet" channel; it's kinda hawt.    

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/yuhline/status/1497456334094151682?s=20&t=XVaISvC-ZZTlWW6mfKMswA

Eoin

Germans now shipping lethal aid to Ukraine. A big political shift from Germany.

JohnInCarolina

Eoin said:

Germans now shipping lethal aid to Ukraine. A big political shift from Germany.

And they aren’t trying to do it quietly.  To me that indicates quite clearly how quickly things are shifting against Russia on the European continent.  

Kayak

A good read if you are wondering how it might all play out.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-what-russia-wants-what-the-west-can-do/

dmchicago

Rrp shoulda moved that thread here

lousubcap

@Kayak - a solid read.  Thanks for the perspective.  

JohnInCarolina

Kayak said:

A good read if you are wondering how it might all play out.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-what-russia-wants-what-the-west-can-do/

🤔🤔🤔

Eggdicted_Dawgfan

This is what I was looking for. A lot of gold in this thread. Thanks for the heads up Capt!

JohnInCarolina

Kayak

JohnInCarolina said:

Kayak said:

A good read if you are wondering how it might all play out.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-what-russia-wants-what-the-west-can-do/

🤔🤔🤔

Considered the most accurate comparison of economies:

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purchasing-power-parity/country-comparison

JohnInCarolina

Kayak said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Kayak said:

A good read if you are wondering how it might all play out.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-what-russia-wants-what-the-west-can-do/

🤔🤔🤔

Considered the most accurate comparison of economies:

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purchasing-power-parity/country-comparison

Did you really just send me a link to a website hosted by our own CIA?  

OK, well… that definitely wasn’t what I was expecting based on your post history.  

Anyway, I think most people would read one economy passing another as simply a measure of raw GDP.  And there it’s not terribly close.  Not that it matters terribly to the argument being made in the piece, it just struck me as kind of an odd assertion.

Kayak

JohnInCarolina said:

Kayak said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Kayak said:

A good read if you are wondering how it might all play out.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-what-russia-wants-what-the-west-can-do/

🤔🤔🤔

Considered the most accurate comparison of economies:

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purchasing-power-parity/country-comparison

Did you really just send me a link to a website hosted by our own CIA?  

OK, well… that definitely wasn’t what I was expecting based on your post history.  

Anyway, I think most people would read one economy passing another as simply a measure of raw GDP.  And there it’s not terribly close.  Not that it matters terribly to the argument being made in the piece, it just struck me as kind of an odd assertion.

Even socialist-anachists can quote the World Factbook. For the second time in this thread. Strange to hear a mathematics professor defend a less accurate method, because ‘everybody does it’😀