Random Rant Thread

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You really should take whatever the Ukrainian government says about the war with a huge grain of salt too. I can guarantee you that they have been lying about a LOT of stuff. It's kind of ridiculous that I have to actually say that, but man, let's not be stupid, for once.

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I like the way Michael Kofman put it: "He (Putin) could be losing for a long time."

Meaning, Russia is probably not going to win this war, but that doesn't mean there will be a Ukrainian victory in the foreseeable future.

There is only one thing that I've been certain of throughout this war so far, and it's that Russia is going to lose it. That's the only thing that I've been 100% sure of. I don't know how or when, or what the "Ukrainian victory" will look like. Can't even make an educated guess.

And I do count the nuclear apocalypse as an "L" for Russia. It's just that that would be an "L" for everyone else too.

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So what? I would even go so far as to say that T-72's are better in this war than Leopard 2's would be because they are a lot cheaper (10-20% of a Leopard 2's cost) and expendable. The point is that you - as the invaders - have to assume that you will lose a significant percentage of your tanks in this war no matter what, and the role that the tanks play is limited.

Don't get me wrong; You do need tanks, a lot of them, but "For what?" is the question. Leopard 2 wouldn't give you any big advantage given the role that the tanks can play in this war. The glorious tank battles that you are drooling over ain't happening. 

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Isn't it amazing that we still have *no idea* about the casualties on the Ukrainian side?

And perhaps even more amazing is that an overwhelming majority of the Western journalists don't seem to mind the information blackout, at all. It's not just that the Ukrainian government isn't telling us shit, but also that the "journalists" aren't asking the question to begin with.

No surprise, but it's still amazing.

[bol]

There was in the media the glory story that the company John Deere remotely disabled tractors that Russian looters took from Ukraine. Which should've raised the "wait a moment, they can do what?"-question if it's not maybe a bad idea that one of the biggest agricultural machinery companies of the world (or hackers getting access) could switch off much of our agriculture if they like.

This post covers the very dystopian business model of John Deere and others, for which they need that kill-switch in their machinery doctorow.medium.com/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors-bc93f471b9c8

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Thanks for the story. I like it that extraordinary situations tend to reveal/expose those wild things that few were aware of otherwise.

Things that can be shut down by so-called "kill switches" are actually everywhere.

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So, I have yet to encounter a decent materialistic argument for why crypto improves our lives, and in "our" I didn't include the interest of drug dealers, those in the global forced prostitution rings and blackmarket arm merchants.

Everything that I heard has been highly abstract, sophomorically philosophical (READ: libertarian), delusional, or/and frankly creepy, like "It would instantly end the US imperialism!" (No, it wouldn't) or "Don't you think it would just free up so much of our potential?" (No, I don't, I think almost the opposite).

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LOL

Sounds good to me, though.

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Oh, man. I genuinely feel sorry for them.

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Amazing. When unions take off and gain momentum, they grow very quickly. The Starbucks union seems to be no exception.

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It's incredible that there are many American parents who *actually* think the biggest problem during this pandemic for children is the mask mandate at school. That's what the polls say.

I mean, not the *school closures*, obviously by far the biggest problem as they were typically way too hard and long in much of the US by the international standards, but the goddamn masks. Because it's... "dehumanizing"?

Absolute bonkers.

And for the n-th time, I have yet to see an American kid who thinks the mask was "dehumanizing" or that big of a deal. "Annoying" at worst. Meanwhile, the harsh school closures have produced a generation of children who are absolutely handicapped in terms of knowledge/education. It will have a lasting impact on their lives.

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Generally speaking I hate this stuff, but I admit this is pretty good. Fuck Chuck Todd, really.

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LOL

FYI, Russia has already lost three times as many tanks in Ukraine as the number of the tanks that the UK has in total. That suggests both how big a blunder it has been for Russia and how small the British military is.

You should read the whole thread, which is about how Russian propagandists have been trying to spin this abysmal failure.

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I suspect some of this "process" is actually illegal. If it's not, then ultimately the government is responsible for having not regulated the fuck out of this total bullshit.

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Holy shit, what the actual fuck is this?