Random Rant Thread

[rictor]

To tell you the truth I never imagined it would hit me this hard. And I didn't even like Ukrainians. Won't pretend I knew it was inevitable and stuff, cause I'm not into politics and such, so will take miscmisc word for it. Will just add that if it comes down to it I'm ready to fight any crazy communist (and there's not even an ounce of patriotism in me). Hope for the best but prepare for the worst as they say.

[miscmisc]

You don't have to worry about fighting any crazy communist any time soon, though. They are an endangered species.

Putin for example is a full-fledged anti-commie. He attacked every single major figure of the Soviet Union in his speech the other day, from Lenin to Gorbachev, for supposedly ruining the Russian Greatness. He's a 120% reactionary Tsarist ultra-nationalist slash imperialist now. It's not like he wasn't, but 120% now.

That's why that speech worried a lot of people. He used to show some ambivalence, between the multiethnic Soviet communism and Russian nationalism. Now he completely discarded the former, and went all in on the latter. 120%.

And unfortunately you could argue that Putin is simply on the international trend, that is our contemporary reactionary ethos. It's a little hard to see jolly times ahead.

[miscmisc]

Freedom Fries are back, folks.

[miscmisc]

When Anatol Lieven talks about Russia, you listen. Highly recommended.

Worse Than a Crime; It’s a Blunder
Anatol Lieven on the meaning and consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s response
prospect.org/world/worse-than-a-crime-its-a-blunder-russia-ukraine-lieven-interview/

We never had the slightest intention of defending Ukraine, not the slightest. Even though Britain and America and the NATO secretariat to the Bucharest Conference in 2008 came out for NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia (the NATO HQ was completely behind it on American orders), no contingency plans were drawn up, not the most remote or contingent ones, for how NATO could defend Ukraine and Georgia. There was no intention of ever doing that at all.

That raises the question, since we never intended to defend them, of what in God’s name were we doing? Claiming that we were going to admit them to NATO: It goes beyond actual irresponsibility. In my view, this was deeply immoral, to make such a commitment that we had no intention of fulfilling. This does not in any way excuse or justify the Russian invasion or the monstrous lies with which Putin justified this invasion. Maybe this isn’t the moment, but at some stage, I do hope that we have an honest and searching discussion of the errors of Western strategy that led to this disaster.

[miscmisc]

Everything about what's going on tells me that it's going to be a fucking disaster for Russia in the long run. You could even say that they will be a lot better off in the future if they fail militarily now. They are moving into Kyiv. That's exactly what those Western/NATO-adjacent foreign policy think-tanks wanted to see, like I said before the invasion.

And behind the sad-face emoji, NATO must be ecstatic. Back to the Cold War. This will justify their existence for years and years to come. It's not just that they aren't doing anything to help Ukraine; They are loving it.

And THAT is what really hurts and disgusts me.

[miscmisc]

Most people don't seem to know how contemptuous many EU officials in Brussels are toward some EU members, specifically Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria. "It was a mistake, but they are in only for security reasons!", one drunk diplomat said to us in a brief bar meeting. Yes, even relatively wealthy, seemingly important Poland isn't really liked, and that's not just because of the not-so-progressive nature of the current government.

I'm not European, nor Chinese, so they felt a bit freer to rant about stuff with me.

So, I mean, Ukraine? Forget about it, man. Forget about it.

[miscmisc]

You read this kind of a story and go, "Well, gullible Americans! The Chinese are darn clever!" but I'm pretty sure that it didn't actually go the way this article described. I have no evidence, but that's been the trend for years now, hyping up Sly China in all kinds of ways through very, you know, liberal interpretations of events.

Everyone makes incredibly silly mistakes, but if you really think the US government is this gullible, well. Bridge to sell, etc.

[miscmisc]

The Japanese tend to underrate the Chinese in a pretty racist way, and Americans/Western Europeans tend to overrate them in a pretty orientalist "Eastern Wisdom" mystic way.

That's a very comfortable space for China to be in, actually.

[bol]

A German newspaper posted this article from 1993, in which Putin, mayor of St. Petersburg back then, in front of businessmen from Germany said that his role-model is Pinochet (yes the Chilean neoliberal military dictator). Then the businessmen cheered.
It's an old article and possibly Putin at least somewhat kissed ass with the Pinochet comment to the Western companies, but still an interesting find in many ways.

[rictor]

Well. Yeah, that was my mistake it would seem. Like I said, I'm not realle into politics. Fact remains, now it's Ukraine but tomorrow we can wake up with the enemy standing at our doors, or borders to be more precise (though I'm talking striclty about myself now, who knows what that russian scum wants to do really).

And about EU. Many Europeans hate each other because of some stupid mix of historical-ethnical-completely irrational reasons. Nothing really new for anyone living here who isn't a complete ignorant. Still, quite interesting to hear it again.

[miscmisc]

Feb 26, 2022 6:57:46 GMT 1 bol said:

A German newspaper posted this article from 1993, in which Putin, mayor of St. Petersburg back then, in front of businessmen from Germany said that his role-model is Pinochet (yes the Chilean neoliberal military dictator). Then the businessmen cheered.
It's an old article and possibly Putin at least somewhat kissed ass with the Pinochet comment to the Western companies, but still an interesting find in many ways.

Thanks for that. I had never heard of that. Interesting indeed.

1993, huh. Putin would witness - and sometimes be part of - a lot of obscene shit over the next several years. Putin in 1993 was a very different person from the Russian leader that we know today.

I rewatched his two speeches now. Even the dry English translation is enough to convey the total "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" outrage. He was really mad as hell and he wasn't going to take it anymore.

He's so mad that he decided that his country would be better off relying 100% and forever on China? Who knows. He knows warfare, and still opted to invade in this particular way. He turned even the most anti-Maidan, Russian-speaking Ukrainians into committed Ukrainian nationalists now. Is that part of his equation? I doubt it. He really seems to think that Ukrainians don't matter, that this is strictly him vs. the US/NATO.

That would be so incredibly foolish, but I don't know any other way to see it.

I don't want to predict anything, but it's very hard for me to see how Putin can achieve his war objectives without losing a lot of his men and killing tons of Ukrainian civilians. Absolutely everything has to go perfectly and smoothly to finish it up clean, and Putin ought to know that almost never happens in a military invasion into a territory with a hostile civilian population.

[rictor]

This is like the only internet forum I still post on (and even then it's just sporadically right now) and we're in a rant thread but still please bear with me.

Up until now I thought I was a citizen of the world but I don't think I want to be a citizen of a world that does nothing to help an independent democratic country being attacked by bandits so I will return to being just a mere Pole and say this is the first time I'm actually proud that our not-so-special football national team refused to play any games with Russia and that our volleyball team (where we're actually World Champs) did the same. And while I'm finishing typing this it's time to start actually doing things, like helping the Ukrainian refugees that are already in my city but also lobbying to ban all Russians from our competitions. Yeah, I'm all for isolating Russia both financially and socially. I can't imagine treating them in a normal way right now, though I'm sure there are many decent to great human beings among them.

[miscmisc]

Well, I'm against systematically shutting Russian citizens out of events and so on, but wouldn't object to individuals/individual organizations, such as the Polish national teams, making that kind of decisions on their own. I mean, you guys are from Poland. It's a little different story with Polish *elites* - many of whom actually like this development - but for most Polish people, it's literally too close to home, both geographically and historically. Those are entirely justifiable reactions, and I do support them.

[miscmisc]

It's not going smoothly for Russia on the ground at all. No Blitzkrieg for sure. But it was never going to be a Blitzkrieg. If Putin thought it would be, then I must say his brain was absolutely Covid-screwed. Nah, he's not that delusional. Right?

In any event he will have to push harder now, and that means a lot more casualties, on both sides. Sure, Russia absolutely dwarfs Ukraine in terms of military technology and resources, but if you've read this thread long enough - meaning, years! - you know the equation. 

Does it look like anything other than a path to hell for Russia?

[miscmisc]

To get one thing quite clear, the biggest reason I stopped defending Biden in this thread - in fact I stopped even mentioning him I think - was that I was absolutely fed up with his atrocious Russia/Ukraine policy. No, I didn't expect the whole thing to go down this exact road, but I thought fierce reactions from Russia were all but inevitable given the ridiculous policy. Trump's was awful too, but the US government seems absolutely unable to be levelheaded about this issue either way.

When you want them to be "centrist" the most!

These are really, really dangerous times.