News from Ukraine Conflict

[GDS_Starfury]

and that's one of the reasons I'm in the LeMay camp with my comments.  and I'm good with that.

[GDS_Starfury]

sometimes theres just that frikin guy at the bar thats had to much to drink and gets stupid and he just needs to be punched in the fucking mouth.
seemed to work for Germany and Japan...

[LongBlade]

What right did the UK or the US or France have in deciding the fate of Sudeten Germans? Or Austrians? Or Germans in the Saar basin? Or Germans anywhere? Would it not be the same as the UK or France intervening in the US Civil War? Unwelcome meddling?

The Russians do not belong in Ukraine. But NATO certainly does not belong there either. And I say that having Eastern European [and Ukrainian] ancestry and some sort of mental connection to the place. 

I hope that I am not coming across as a Russophile or a Russian apologist because I am not either. I just believe that going to war over Ukraine (from the US perspective) would be a [potentially very costly] mistake.

Directly fighting Russia would be a mistake.

Sending arms to the Ukrainians, however, strikes me as a prudent move.

[Gusington]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Especially if things like the Dirty Jew comment that MD posted are true. Beyond that I am sure that we'e been sending weapons and 'advisors' over there for the last year anyway.

[LongBlade]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Especially if things like the Dirty Jew comment that MD posted are true. Beyond that I am sure that we'e been sending weapons and 'advisors' over there for the last year anyway.

Fair enough.

Did someone say boobs?

[BanzaiCat]

BOOBS?



Sort of like the seagulls from Finding Nemo...Mine? Mine? Mine? Instead, Bewbs? Bewbs? Bewbs?

[mirth]

They don't belong in Ukraine. If they keep pushing they should get pushed back. By Ukraine and Germany.

The problem is that Europe is notoriously bad at handling Continental disputes on it's own. That's a big reason why we have NATO and why the US still has troops stationed in Europe, 70 years after the Second World War. We've gone, left, and had to go back. Better to be there in the first place. We should have taken a little smaller payout on the 'peace dividend'.

Given the history, it's a lot to expect the Germans to handle the Ukraine situation on their own. The Russians would go apeshit, and would land a huge propaganda coup, if it were fighting Germans in the Ukraine, again. I doubt the Ukrainians really would welcome a mainly German force either.

[OJsDad]

^IMHO there was a racist mentality to foreign policy in that era that is an additional factor. Western leaders considered Ethiopia strictly of 2nd class importance [if that] when compared to the Sudetenland. I hesitate to drag racism and ethnicity into this, at it will only make things murkier and uglier, but there you have it.

But, Ethiopia was a wake up call that the west chose to ignore.  Putin/Russia have already taken a chunk of Georgia that the west chose to ignore.  Then they barley woke up when they stole Crimea.  When do you think enough is enough Gus.

[Gusington]

If the West chose to ignore Ethiopia then it wasn't a wake up call. Enough is enough when Russians cross the Rhine, ironically.

[Centurion40]

Enough maybe enough when Russia crosses the Dnieper.

[mirth]

The Poles might not be too keen on the Russians reaching the Rhine.

[Airborne Rifles]

Are they ever?  ;D

[Gusington]

If we're going to keep it real, I could care less about the Poles. They and the Russians are made for each ofher. I'll leave it at that.

[LongBlade]

A curious development...

A study from a Pentagon think tank theorizes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger's syndrome, "an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," according to the 2008 report obtained by USA TODAY.

Putin's "neurological development was significantly interrupted in infancy," wrote Brenda Connors, an expert in movement pattern analysis at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Studies of his movement, Connors wrote, reveal "that the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality."

The 2008 study was one of many by Connors and her colleagues, who are contractors for the Office of Net Assessment (ONA), an internal Pentagon think tank that helps devise long-term military strategy. The 2008 report and a 2011 study were provided to USA TODAY as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.

source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/04/putin-aspergers-syndrome-study-pentagon/22855927/

Signs of Asperger's:

• naïve, inappropriate, one-sided social interactions
• limited ability to establish relationships
• poor non-verbal communication
• a lack of emotional empathy
• pedantic, repetitive speech
• intense absorption in certain subjects
• clumsy, un-coordinated movements
• odd postures

source: http://asperger-institute.com/characteristics/

I haven't studied Asperger's in any form. Anyone have any thoughts on this possible diagnosis?

[JasonPratt]

I read that list and came up with "vodka". ;)