Europe at War

Started by Que, February 20, 2022, 12:59:09 AM

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71 dB

Quote from: Florestan on May 23, 2022, 06:19:11 AM
And yet it's exactly what the Finnish Defence Forces state on their website dedicated to conscription and conscripts:

The Finnish Defence Forces' reserve comprises approximately 900,000 Finnish citizens. The wartime strength of the Finnish Defence Forces is 280,000 soldiers, and this strength is resupplied by other reservists as applicable.

Source: https://intti.fi/en/in-the-reserve

Obviously the Finnish Defence Forces is lying in order to get into NATO and live on the expense of american tax payers...  :P
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Karl Henning

Quote from: Madiel on May 22, 2022, 10:34:13 PM
See, I simply don't think that we get good counter-arguments. We mostly get rhetorical questions about the value of the USA bothering to care about Europe. That's not an argument. Mostly it's a complete unwillingness to accept any of the arguments that others make, about the value of strategic partnerships.

We also get claims that, when challenged or just queried, aren't backed up beyond telling people to go do their own googling. I dispute your claim that there's real content, because over and over when people actually ask for content, they don't get it. Florestan in particular has asked Todd some genuine questions, looking for more information... and Todd simply doesn't give it. He asserts that he's answered the question when it's obvious to all and sundry that he hasn't, and it's really hard to escape the conclusion that the reason he doesn't answer questions is that he can't.

So while I applaud your stance in principle, I genuinely dispute your notion that it's a principle that can be meaningfully applied to this particular 'contributor'. I love a good argument. I stopped reading Todd's posts because at no stage did I have a sense I was going to get one. Frankly, I think you'd be a heck of a lot better at it.

Yes. Additionally, it ain't my job to separate whatever may possess actual merit, from the performative jerkoff.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
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Karl Henning

Russian soldier jailed for life in first war crimes trial of Ukraine war (Reuters)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

LKB

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on May 23, 2022, 08:00:18 AM
Russian soldier jailed for life in first war crimes trial of Ukraine war (Reuters)

I believe that sentence is probably meant as a warning and/or deterrent for the Russian/ Wagner infantry. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he were released relatively soon after the war is concluded.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Todd

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Todd

Hedges: No Way Out but War

Quote from: Chris Hedges
Military strategists, who say the war will be long and protracted, are talking about infusions of $4 or $5 billion in military aid a month to Ukraine...

The political class is as self-deluded as the generals. It refuses to accept the emergence of a multi-polar world and the palpable decline of American power. It speaks in the outdated language of American exceptionalism and triumphalism, believing it has the right to impose its will as the leader of the "free world." In his 1992 Defense Planning Guidance memorandum, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz argued that the U.S. must ensure no rival superpower again arises. The U.S. should project its military strength to dominate a unipolar world in perpetuity. On February 19, 1998, on NBC's "Today Show", Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the Democratic version of this doctrine of unipolarity. "If we have to use force it is because we are Americans; we are the indispensable nation," she said. "We stand tall, and we see further than other countries into the future."

A strikingly lonely voice of dissent from the left, or at least a rare one that can get some type of "platform".  Hedges has been consistent in his critiques, of course.  Alas, they go unheeded.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Herman

Chris Hedges was on the Russia Today payroll till recently, that's pretty much Kremlin's state television.

Todd

Quote from: Herman on May 26, 2022, 09:25:35 AM
Chris Hedges was on the Russia Today payroll till recently, that's pretty much Kremlin's state television.

A standard diversion tactic.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Madiel

Quote from: Herman on May 26, 2022, 09:25:35 AM
Chris Hedges was on the Russia Today payroll till recently, that's pretty much Kremlin's state television.

My understanding is you can delete the "pretty much".
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drogulus

     Given what's happening to Russia and China, the US couldn't buy a multi-polar world at any price.

     The power of the US led alliance system is unmatched and its main challengers are weakening.

     Some of what Hedges says is not just emotive, but also true. The The US does prefer a world in which its power is not challenged and can impose its will. These are things all countries would like to be able to do. The US is only the second country in recent centuries to reach that point. It has used that power to protect the trade routes that are vital to the prosperity of itself and all its partners.

     I'll let perpetuity worry about itself. Businesses don't put themselves out of business because they won't exist at some future point.
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71 dB

The prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, visited Ukraine to show support and to visit the bombed Bucha north of Kiev. Reconstruction of Ukraine was talked about.

Meanwhile, the negotiations between Turkey and Sweden/Finland have started...  :P
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Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
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Florestan

Quote from: 71 dB on May 26, 2022, 02:43:54 PM
The prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, visited Ukraine to show support and to visit the bombed Bucha north of Kiev. Reconstruction of Ukraine was talked about.

Meanwhile, the negotiations between Turkey and Sweden/Finland have started...  :P

You Finns have the sexiest Prime-Minister in the world.  ;)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Herman

Quote from: Florestan on May 27, 2022, 01:22:41 AM
You Finns have the sexiest Prime-Minister in the world.  ;)

Absolutely, and the president's wife is a poet.
Finland's got it all.

Florestan

Quote from: Herman on May 27, 2022, 11:33:44 AM
Absolutely, and the president's wife is a poet.
Finland's got it all.

More importantly, they defeated the USSR in two consecutive wars. Way to go, Suomi!
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Todd

West mulls having Russian oligarchs buy way out of sanctions

Leave it to an erstwhile writer for The Economist to propose an idea where The West extorts specific individuals, or specific individuals are allowed to bribe The West (take your pick) to get out of hot water.  As any person with econ training knows, everything has a price, usually expressed in dollars.  I wonder if the agreements with the evil/enlightened oligarchs will be made public.  They could make for entertaining reading.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

71 dB

Quote from: Florestan on May 27, 2022, 11:49:44 AM
More importantly, they defeated the USSR in two consecutive wars. Way to go, Suomi!

Not without a big price thou. Finland lost land area to the Soviet Union and had to pay war reparations. To my knowledge Finland is the only country that has paid war reparations fully. The positive side of those payments were that Finland had to develop its metal industry because the Soviet Union demanded locomotives etc. from us.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Todd

Bringing Finland into NATO is a big mistake

Quote from: Stephen Kinzer
Arguments against Finnish entry into NATO are straightforward. Finland faces no serious danger. If attacked, it can defend itself, with help from neighbors if necessary. The United States should not assume obligations to go to war for more countries whose fate does not decisively affect us...

Some in Washington apparently believe that war between the United States and Russia is possible, maybe inevitable, and perhaps even desirable. It's a seductive logic. If you're thirsting for war with Russia, bringing Finland into NATO is a great idea. Otherwise, not so much...

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Madiel

As a former part of the Russian Empire, Finland believes it's in danger regardless of what some columnist thinks.
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Todd

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on NATO expansion

Erdoğan lays out the public rationale for his demands for Finnish and Swedish admittance to NATO. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Que

#2419
Quote from: Todd on May 30, 2022, 01:39:40 PM
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on NATO expansion

Erdoğan lays out the public rationale for his demands for Finnish and Swedish admittance to NATO. 


The commentators clearly fail to see the difference between Turkey ruled by Erdoğan, and the Turkey before Erdoğan.
Two entirely different things. Turkey has no longer a secular, western orientation as mapped out by Greece-born Atatürk, its (ideological) allegiances to the US and Europe are long gone. Erdoğan is the muslim version of Orbán (or Trump): authoritarian, nationalistic, conservative, xenofobe, opportunistic and corrupt.


The Russian domestic perspective:

Putin forgot to ask Russian people's permission for Ukraine