OT: Russia-Ukraine War

[Zenzibar]

Watch on YouTube

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

[Stannis]

Looks like African nations are getting it the worse as far as wheat and food goes.

Billions will be sent for weapons, but not 1 bag of apples to Africa.

Sad. But also poor leadership by those nations. Shouldn't have relied so heavily on Russia and Ukraine. Sources say East Africa gets 90% of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia.

Germany made the same mistake relying on Russian oil and gas.

[thebuzzardman]

Watch on YouTube

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

[j4remi]

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

This feels like a banana wars reference...but I also feel like most people aren't too familiar with that whole horrific epoch

[thebuzzardman]

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

This feels like a banana wars reference...but I also feel like most people aren't too familiar with that whole horrific epoch

It was, and yes, it was horrific.

John M is a devotee of Kennan, which I value. And I appreciate he lays out what he feels is the Russian motivation, the 2008 dangle of NATO to Ukraine and Georgia. And then, other than laying out the risks of wider war, hot war between US and Russia and nukes, he doesn't really have a solution, other than something that lets Russia "win". And he talks about Ukraine "agency" as if the USA will force them into fighting when they don't want to, but then he seems to be totally comfortable with the Ukraine being a vassal state of Russia.
Which, I guess is ok if the alternative is a wider war or lots of death, but not sure the Ukranians are cool with that. And why should they be?

Maybe there's a path to where the Russians can get a face saving win, Ukraine has decent guarantees on future freedom and Ukraine to NATO is scrapped.

[HarthorneWingo]

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

This feels like a banana wars reference...but I also feel like most people aren't too familiar with that whole horrific epoch

It was, and yes, it was horrific.

John M is a devotee of Kennan, which I value. And I appreciate he lays out what he feels is the Russian motivation, the 2008 dangle of NATO to Ukraine and Georgia. And then, other than laying out the risks of wider war, hot war between US and Russia and nukes, he doesn't really have a solution, other than something that lets Russia "win". And he talks about Ukraine "agency" as if the USA will force them into fighting when they don't want to, but then he seems to be totally comfortable with the Ukraine being a vassal state of Russia.
Which, I guess is ok if the alternative is a wider war or lots of death, but not sure the Ukranians are cool with that. And why should they be?

Maybe there's a path to where the Russians can get a face saving win, Ukraine has decent guarantees on future freedom and Ukraine to NATO is scrapped.

Thanks for the recap. I knew I’d get one eventually.

[HarthorneWingo]

Watch on YouTube

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

So what’s his conclusion?

[Zenzibar]

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

You're well read.
Absolutely.
From Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower sending military "advisors" to Costa Rica in the late 50's to quell an attempt to unionize the United Fruit Company to Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Maurice Bishop in Grenada, etc. are such examples of intervention when "national interests" (Corporate) was/is threatened.

[Zenzibar]

Can you give us a brief description of what he discusses here?

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

So what’s his conclusion?

Neither side will be allowed to back down and an eventual global conflagration is looking inevitable.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

So what’s his conclusion?

Neither side will be allowed to back down and an eventual global conflagration is looking inevitable.

This is a power/resource grab and an attack on the petrodollar. No one takes the last part serious but...I keep seeing smoke that these sanctions are stepping on our own dick and that's all about the reserve status of the dollar. It has been the driving force for the spread of democracy for decades IMO. I am no economist but...this is what I get from it all.

Russia is going to war with WMD like claims and who are we to say anything? China having Covid lockdowns that are disrupting the supply chain.

It's all a scary mess to me. The whole escalation POV that guy discusses is a discussion I came across back when Obama was in office. That the US economy/dollar was under attack and WW3 was inevitable. People thought it was crazy talk. I'm afraid it looks to be coming to fruition.

But...WTF do I know? I'm a Knicks fan.

[thebuzzardman]

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

Cool. If the Russians view Ukraine joining NATO as an existential threat and therefore anything they do is justified, then clearly the USA, seeing movements for freedom in South and Central America as threats to it's interests and therefore backed military juanta and right wing death squads is also A-Ok, because I bet if you queried most of the rulers, they'd tell you it was a threat. Or still is.

You're well read.
Absolutely.
From Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower sending military "advisors" to Costa Rica in the late 50's to quell an attempt to unionize the United Fruit Company to Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Maurice Bishop in Grenada, etc. are such examples of intervention when "national interests" (Corporate) was/is threatened.

Ultimately, this is another war (Ukraine) that is about corporate/national interests.

I get that Crimea (2014) for Russia is about maintaining access to a warm weather port.
But, vast natural gas fields were discovered off the crimea about 5 years earlier.
So, the move could have been/be to deny Ukraine the ability to compete with Russia in Europe in the natural gas market.
I figured that was it.

I didn't realize a large natural gas field located on land was discovered as well. Location? The Donbas region. Just a few years before Russia moved in there.

So, my concern, mapping to the idea of a mutual settlement from the Kennan school, is the Russians have no motivation to let the Ukraine be a competitor of their best natural resource asset, and the Ukrainians aren't interested in being cut off from future profitable natural gas fields and also potentially be landlocked.

This isn't ending anytime soon, unfortunately

[HarthorneWingo]

Morning, ah nope.
It took all of 15-20 minutes of my time to listen. But this panel consist of John Mearsheimer, an International scholar, West Point graduate, United States Military Academy graduate and laureate. According to his profile, Wearsheimer is considered to be the "most influential realist of his generation".

If one is interested in garnering a wider, unbiased perspective of this war, this is your man.

So what’s his conclusion?

Neither side will be allowed to back down and an eventual global conflagration is looking inevitable.

In other words, everything is fcked up? See? I can say in four words what took Mearsheimer 15 minutes.

[HarthorneWingo]

Chinese authorities are “arresting” anyone in Shanghai who tests positive for COVID and putting them in a centralized quarantine center.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/chinas-lockdowns-matter-to-the-west/629553/

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

So what’s his conclusion?

Neither side will be allowed to back down and an eventual global conflagration is looking inevitable.

This is a power/resource grab and an attack on the petrodollar. No one takes the last part serious but...I keep seeing smoke that these sanctions are stepping on our own dick and that's all about the reserve status of the dollar. It has been the driving force for the spread of democracy for decades IMO. I am no economist but...this is what I get from it all.

Russia is going to war with WMD like claims and who are we to say anything? China having Covid lockdowns that are disrupting the supply chain.

It's all a scary mess to me. The whole escalation POV that guy discusses is a discussion I came across back when Obama was in office. That the US economy/dollar was under attack and WW3 was inevitable. People thought it was crazy talk. I'm afraid it looks to be coming to fruition.

But...WTF do I know? I'm a Knicks fan.

You will die before the Knicks are competitive. But you may see some intense battles by RJ and the Rim Blockeds

[8516knicks]

How long till SINK THE MOSKVA hits Netflix?

[RandlesCornrows]

Sheesh Ukraine army is absolutely dicking Russia. It still baffles me that Russia hasn’t taken complete control of the sky. The war would’ve been over by now.

I think the UA is **** them up so bad that they wind up targeting Kyiv with a tactical nuke. But idk who knows with Putin

Anyhow glory to Ukraine!!

[Clyde_Style]

Joining NATO may be in play now for Finland and Sweden

[Pointgod]

Joining NATO may be in play now for Finland and Sweden

Yea it’s a spectacular backfire from Russia. They’re essentially a bully threatening any country that joins NATO with aggression. But it’s all empty threats. And now is the time for European countries to start joining Putin can’t fight them all. Germany is already upping military spending to 2% of GDP and their GDP is a lot more than Russia’s. European countries better get smart because what’s happening to Ukraine will happen again.

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

Joining NATO may be in play now for Finland and Sweden

Yea it’s a spectacular backfire from Russia. They’re essentially a bully threatening any country that joins NATO with aggression. But it’s all empty threats. And now is the time for European countries to start joining Putin can’t fight them all. Germany is already upping military spending to 2% of GDP and their GDP is a lot more than Russia’s. European countries better get smart because what’s happening to Ukraine will happen again.

Read on Twitter

This happened rather quickly. I had just spoken to a relative in Sweden and they still did not expect a move to join NATO

Personally, I feel much better knowing my family will have another deterrent against Russia on their side

[thebuzzardman]

Joining NATO may be in play now for Finland and Sweden

Yea it’s a spectacular backfire from Russia. They’re essentially a bully threatening any country that joins NATO with aggression. But it’s all empty threats. And now is the time for European countries to start joining Putin can’t fight them all. Germany is already upping military spending to 2% of GDP and their GDP is a lot more than Russia’s. European countries better get smart because what’s happening to Ukraine will happen again.

Read on Twitter

This happened rather quickly. I had just spoken to a relative in Sweden and they still did not expect a move to join NATO

Personally, I feel much better knowing my family will have another deterrent against Russia on their side

Watch on YouTube