scoobdog

It’s a distinction that needs to be made; it’s not something that could be taken as given no matter how obvious it might be. People get the mistaken idea that disease alters your psychology instead of diminishing the brains ability to either perceive or process external stimuli. In Putin’s case it’s less that he’s prone to a moment of irrational behavior as he’s diminished in his ability to react to problems.

If Herschel Walker starts borrowing your lexicon, I’m flipping my shit, I tell you what.

What do you expect? He's up agains the only war criminal in history to have never actually participated in a war. At any rate, it is certainly worth noting that this conflict is a direct result of failures by the United States as the Cold War came to its abrupt end. It's not wrong to say that the United States tends to be the best benefactor when a conflict is involved, and that tends to be a function of multiple factors, like a clear diplomatic delineation, the excess amount of military hardware that can be produced, and legislature that is looking to score political points the easiest possible way. Still, a lot of it also has to do with the lack of a strong universal infrastructure to offset the wealth gap. It isn't enough, for instance, to simply to give a billion dollar package including food, equipment, and security guarantees if there is no way to gauge what is actually needed. Putin's hatred of NATO, unreasonable as it is, underscore the fact that it will always be a security organization and not a humanitarian one, and that its function as a neo-allied pact did not fill the shortcomings of United Nations as it was still in its infancy. When the Iron Curtain did ultimately fall, the countries left behind didn't have a strong support network to help them rebuild the critical systems that the USSR had provided. Some countries fared better than others, but it left the door open for Russia to try to move back in even a full three decades later.

Fascinating, isn't it?

I believe your point has been mentioned several times before by several different people, yet here we are. Just goes to show that good faith arguments don't always result in good faith discussions.

Also, what’s the connection to Syria other than sharing the same barbaric Russian general?

It will always be a problem as a side effect of our hyper vigilance in fighting the Cold War, and our hyper enthusiastic embrace of globalization for profit, and our overreaction to the catastrophic results of the Holocaust. Hegemony is the by product of hubris, but our sins are not comparable to the Russians.

Just checking. FWIW, that Jacobin sight is a fairly suspect source because it tends to parrot an anti-imperialist agenda with little to no substantiation. I find it fairly unlikely the CIA would have ever been involved with the Ukrainian regular army given the skill sets they provide are ill-suited to combat. The logic most likely holds that there were ultra-nationalists taught by US soldiers, possibly Special Operators, in the build up to the conflict, but the fact that the US Government has privately expressed concern about them having access to military hardware should be a good indicator that some guardrails are in place.

When Herschel Walker starts peppering his speeches with "Boy, Howdy," I'm losing my shit for real.

Please elaborate. Do you mean prior to or post invasion?

It would be impossible to prove one way or another. The thing is, ultra-nationalism (and the racism it represents) is a problem for just about every country, and the country's ability to fight it tends to correlate with its ability to negotiate factions. What this discussion about new-nazis in the Ukraine typically ignores is what tends to drive the racial animus that fuels it, particularly an insurgency by Russian separatists for the better part of two decades. Neo-Nazis tend to adopt the same proverbial uniform of anti-semitism, "color" racism, xenophobia and religious fundamentalism regardless of the local schism that gives them a place to nest. It's this profoundly bigoted framework that connects these dissimilar causes and gives the impression that outside forces are manipulating the locals.

It's always dangerous and irresponsible to tie a psychological disorder to such an over display of megalomania, particularly since no disorder (even schizophrenia) creates a truly destructive personality on its own. For instance, even if he were to be suffering from a form of dementia where his intellectual capacity is severely compromised, he isn't likely to suddenly "learn" psychopathic traits. Even in severe cases where the condition leads to severe depression and suicide, one's drive toward self-preservation isn't suddenly disengaged. It's simply a matter of suicide being the the least painful path forward. In this case, It's unlikely that Putin is truly suicidal.

Just a reminder... whether or not Putin has terminal cancer, he is clearly physically ailing. That doesn't suggest that he is about to do something as reckless as starting a nuclear winter just to save face, however it does suggest that self-preservation isn't necessarily the principal component in his otherwise opaque thought process... particularly if he's suffering from any other maladies that might affect ones psychological profile.

Didn’t DeSantis have $12million to do all of this?

All hail the Sun God

Mthor on the dark web sounds really fucking amazing.

Took them long enough.

See what I mean? Anyway, I doubt it will come to that. Biden would probably veto it if it got that far.

Pretty sure no one has been "shrieking" about it other than to point out that it's inhumane regardless of what becomes of the refugees. First you shit on Harry for not being sufficiently grieving, now you're expressing glee that liberals are horrified by a profoundly dehumanizing act? Sounds like your idea of empathy is entirely superficial.

Well they deserve and have every right to exercise that veto. Still not good if it ends up leading to a strike anyway.

Not really. Should have gotten right the first time.

Good thing I have a car.

Well, @Ginguy?

Quick question.... @Ginguy: was Elon Musk's bid for Twitter solicited or unsolicited?

He can't even drop dead without screwing up.