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phdhorn

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Everything posted by phdhorn

  1. I will do my best to avoid getting a parking ticket in Kyiv over the next few years.
  2. You make good points for sure, and I don't really know on one level why that wouldn't be tried. I'm trying to walk a tightrope here, I'm not excusing Euro countries of being too self-centered, but I do know that no other area in the world has such tight-quartered, very different cultural mentalities all squeezed within a very small area relatively speaking, and from millenia of "kill or be killed" I try to understand their point of view, which is something like "preserve us first, or there's nothing to preserve" - and this isn't just IMO but from doing my cultural studies in my academics. However, I don't know how much the "modern age" has changed this but I do think it's very hard for us to understand why many of these Euro countries say... "well HELL YEAH! Er, but first, well except for this..." but I do think it has some roots in the geopolitik I mentioned earlier. I guess the carrot I'm giving them is they've been decimated so much in the last 110 years that it's natural for them to seek their own self-preservation. I'm not saying it's right, but it's something not intrinsically understood by Americans - in my opinion. Shrug?
  3. Agree w' the first 2, maybe not the last. He's proving to have a lot of guts, and winning the population over big time (soooo much unlike many of his goofy predecessors, er the ones not poisoned). I think it would be a real morale shatterer if he's killed. I hope he accepts exile and continues to be seen.. a huge motivation for the people. He's already proven himself to me.
  4. I didn't read clearly enough - said "Hell no" but would be wiling to be persuaded to send aid/advisors. Still, the main thing is no way, period, send bodies - it's a waste. If Vlad attacks NATO, hell, I'll go over and fight. Absolutely then send e'erybody. Edit: I'm obviously way too old for the military, but they can strap me to a Javelin and I'll have the time of my life going out. Either that or take care of Ukrainian women while their men are away fighting.
  5. I know - now we won't have to wait 54 minutes on a phone line, then get "Lexi" with a heavy Indian accent, to give us her 3 minute preplanned speech before we even get a word in, then tell us that "perhaps our computer needs to be unplugged, can you hold while I check on this?" then come back 3 minutes later and says that "the problem is that your computer needs to be unplugged, I will send you a document on it, are there any other questions?" and then say thank you and goodbye, and then a request for a 56-question survey. How will we ever live without that?
  6. Mike Farrell, ex-Marine. Listen to him. Edit: oops, not that Mike Farrell, I was thinking of the M*A*S*H actor. But good stuff anyway.
  7. Most of America was big time against the war even through its first third. Until the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. That changed everything.
  8. Part of this is a not-yet-had conversation in here about the deep-seated, centuries-old nationalistic tendencies among European countries to think and do stuff that largely isn't perceived/understood by Americans. I'm no Europolitik expert (though I did sleep in a Holiday Inn) but I've traveled enough in Europe to know that there exists these unspoken nationalistic tendencies, driven by almost ancient zeitgeists. And though the younger generations might seem to be less autonomous in their world views, I think a lot of it still comes into play even for them. I.e. when I said to my Hungarian grandmother in 1989 that Eastern Europe (and Hungary) was finally (sorta anyway) free, the first thing she said is, "those goddamn Romanians are going to try to take us over!" and she had been in the USA for 60 years at that point. I don't think it's just racial or ethnic hatreds (though that's part of it), I think some of it is some sort of self-identity or something. This might explain in part why Germans don't seem to be too worked up about all this, or even that Ukranians weren't all that outraged before the invasion (I heard a lot of "Russians are our cohorts, they won't attack us") etc. It's a conversation that isn't easy to pinpoint, but sometimes Euros act "weird" to Americans (never mind vice-versa), hence the Italian P.M. sending out that "well, except for ..." memo. I think Putin knows this sense of fierce European autonomy and gambled that that, not NATO, would be the ruling sentiment. Perhaps he was somewhat right, I don't know. But I think Europe sort of fatalistically doesn't see this as shocking as say we do. Now if they go into a NATO country, all bets are off, and Russia will cease to exist while inflicting little damage back - unless somehow they get China onboard militarily, which I don't see at all at least now. IMHO about all this, anyway...
  9. Well, that was the game plan of the UT offense from 2010-2020. So there's definitely precedent.
  10. I cracked up at this. If I were Sweden or Finland, I'd send this to his twitter: I know that (apparently) Russia has "unleashed" only a small capability of their weaponry in this, but if he attacks a NATO country or impedes longstanding non-Iron Curtainers from moving, his country is toast, period. Literally. Finland sounds like they've been ready to drop the hammer on NATO as it is, and Sweden will be close behind. Although Ukraine will suffer greatly temporarily, after sleeping on it and seeing the developments today (like this) I feel like I'm watching the last of Despotic Soviet Russia happen before my eyes. The only route he would have is to get China on board militarily and that ain't happening any time soon, despite their numerous agreements in the last 4 years or so.
  11. I was wondering what your take is on how intensely the reg's want to fight in this? I know there's somewhat more anti-American sentiment with this in Russia (i.e. "the Americans ginned it up") but basically are these troops disciplined to take orders, period... or do they feel that this is a joke and Putin is sending them to die or get serverely injured for his own pockets.. etc. ? We've had some brief speculation on here, but not sure if I've seen you or Ray's take on the will of the military (even the brass). Just curious, thx.
  12. I hope I see something like this on the recap:
  13. You realize you just blew any shot you had at Miss Teen USA.
  14. I wonder if we can just send her over, stick her in a Kiev square, let her run her piehole, and she can drive the Russians crazy and they'll just leave.
  15. I'd hit Natasha six ways to Sunday.
  16. This is kind of normal for wars breaking out, but info seems to be all over the place and to a degree conflicting. Despite the apparent success reported here in many posts by the Ukrainians on holding off Russia (or more appropriately, sticking it to them), along with stories of military hardware turning into scrap, most of the major reporting isn't really reflecting this. And in fact, I'm hearing now that most military strategists are expecting Kiev to fall within 2-3 days max. One credible report just released has Zelenskyy now moved to a secure bunker in anticipation of the Russians taking the city, and other reports say that they're well on their way to Kyiv now. Or is the strategy to take Kyiv and all the other shit is just theater? I don't know. But whatever it is, it seems like the group media is still far more fatalistic than these individual social media tweets and posts. I think it's inevitable that Kyiv is taken; after that it's all a total dice roll.
  17. Ugh. If that's true, this thing will have escalated far beyond anything right now.
  18. But fortunately, Davy's still in the Navy and probably will be for life. (alright, I'll stop).
  19. looks a lot like Wisconsin, too
  20. Yes, but it's a dry heat.
  21. I think I also might be a little note from Russia of what would happen if they did try to block entrance to the Black Sea...
  22. I hope a lot of people don't start drinking beer together and talking about it in Bavaria.
  23. Where's Nick Saban's plane - or Bert?
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