Start fracking.
Arm Ukraine.
Fuck Putin.
Strange days make for strange allies.
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Samizdata quote of the dayFebruary 27th, 2022 |
 32 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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Admittedly, I don’t know what is true about Ukraine and what isn’t. I’ve read speculation that Putin has gone nuts. I thought he was a PRO and that logistics would be his forte, in this case not so much. Maybe he thought he could finesse the establishment of a puppet government in Ukraine, and this is just so much theater. I don’t think he cares, if he is an international pariah, but I can’t see a win, win, if he escalates. Is it too soon to start a meme, who is stupider? Trudeau or Putin?
Embrace the healing power of ‘and’. Or, as Dr Johnson put it,
The example of Trudeau’s methods immediately threatens our personal freedom here in the west. Putin threatens freedom and life in the Ukraine immediately, and also ours on a slightly longer timescale. What Trudeau and his kind have done to the west has much to do with Putin’s thinking it was safe for him to act. We will see whether Putin’s attack on the Ukraine’s freedom will have a similar side-effect of assisting Trudeau and allies to kill ours in the west or will be a welcome touchstone of reality.
Elon Musk has made Starlink available to Ukraine. How does this change the dynamic? Is this technology hacking resistant? Is it more secure?
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/elon-musk-says-starlink-is-active-in-ukraine-amid-internet-disruptions
No, I would say it is very timely indeed 😀
Don’t believe the disinformation campaigns about Ukraine, spewing out of Washington, London, or the Ukraine. Don’t get all wound up by the war porn. None of the media or statements coming out of the US State Department can be believed at face value.
The West is using Ukraine like an expendable pawn, pushing it into Russia’s well-warned consequences. It’s like the big kids urging the little kid to stick his arm in the woodchipper. The real question is why?
WTF are you on about ruralcounsel? It is really not hard to understand what is going on & there are a plethora of sources for information.
Don’t believe the disinformation campaigns about Ukraine spewing out of Moscow.
This is entirely about Putin wishing to Make Russia Great Again by eliminating Ukraine as an independent nation & eliminating the idea that Ukrainians are a separate people. How do we know this? Where does that information come from? Well it comes from Vladimir Putin if you bothered to read the translations of his recent speech (& many similar ones in the past).
The real question is why do you feel the need to spout “Russia Today” disinformation?
‘there are a plethora of sources for information’. True – and every single one of them will be mixing small parts of the truth will large dollops of lies.
We do not know how the conflict is developing or how successful Russia is in achieving its war aims.
I think I’m really getting a handle on what’s going on.
Putin’s advantage is that he can cut his losses at any time and just settle for the parts of the Eastern Ukraine and sell it as a victory. He knows, and we know, and everybody knows, it’s actually not a victory, but appearances for his domestic audiences have to be kept.
Until it is logistically impossible, he will try to make Ukraine capitulate. The Russian forces are not numerous enough to prop up a puppet regime, but forcing the Ukrainians to the negotiating table on his terms is possible, and probably what Putin wants.
The US, with its much larger and better equipped military, had difficulty handling Iraq and Afghanistan, which are far less developed than Ukraine. If the US, with such a huge disparity of strength, couldn’t do it, what makes Putin think Russia can?
That’s why I think Russia doesn’t want to conquer Ukraine and occupy it for good. They wanted a good punch in the face to make Ukraine cry uncle and roll over in negotiations.
A decap strike at the government in Kiev and destroying any military coordination would have made it a lot easier to shatter Ukrainian morale, inflict heavy casualties, destroy Ukraine military formations, and force negotiations, but those attacks failed, so it’s gonna be a hard attritional war instead.
Maybe that’s why the Russians haven’t used any thermobaric weapons – their use would have enraged the Ukrainians and made any negotiated terms impossible, no matter how blasted apart their leadership was.
The upshot of this plan, for Putin, is that he can stop anytime it really becomes unfavorable to carry on. The fact that the attack is still ongoing means that Putin still sees a chance to attain his objectives.
Besides, it hasn’t even been a week.
Sure. But so what? My reply above was addressing the Moscow backed narrative (at least the one aimed at foreigners and assorted useful idiots) that this was about Russia’s “legitimate defence needs” rather than (the narrative in Russian aimed at Russians) that this is about correcting the ‘historical mistake’ (as Putin phrased it) that created Ukraine as a modern nation and Ukrainians as a self-identifying people.
Hard to really know exactly what’s going on there with the fighting. The more I try to keep up with it the more confused I am. The impression I have is that the Russians have taken some areas but may have taken heavy casualties in areas but difficult to know if this is proof of ‘failure’. Especially as the war is barely a week old. Most wars don’t get wrapped up that quick. Of course there’s a chance this one will be, but only time will tell.
One thing I can say with certainty is that Liz Truss is awful. Castlereagh she isn’t.
‘I stand with Ukraine’ is the new ‘I trust the safe and effective jab’ – James Delingpole
Perfectly summed up by James. From one manufactured crisis to another with the same attendant virtue signalling from the great and good.
I think Putin despises Ukrainians and expected them to fold without a fight. Given that he is surrounded by sycophants, he will have found his views repeated back to him.
Instead, he finds that the Ukrainians are fighting with determination, and that Russian troops have no motivation to fight their neighbours. I have to hope that when a staff officer leaves his briefcase behind, it is not at the wrong end of Bad Vlad’s long table.
James Delingpole and rosenquist bravely reject any of the official narratives. Well, unless they come from Moscow that is.
The cognitive dissonance is startling. What a pity, I used to have such a high opinion of Delingpole.
It has been interesting watching society struggle to figure out what side they’re supposed to be on. It’s all so intersectional that it’s dangerous to say the wrong thing, and no one seems to have settled definitively on what “the wrong thing” is yet.
As a pure sociological question, it has been very much like Covid. Sides, and which is my side? They used to hold up flags in battle so that the soldiers would know which way to run to their own center. Now you have to check Twitter.
In my arrogant opinion, Trudeau is definitely much more stupid than Putin was until at least a couple of years ago.
That he does not do as much damage, is partly due to constitutional constraints, and partly due to his own stupidity preventing him from being effective.
(And partly, of course, to Canada not having nukes.)
Exasperated – Mr Putin was a professional intelligence officer, NOT a professional soldier.
He knows nothing about logistics – having individuals murdered is what he is good at (well reasonably good – he has messed up some killings, because of his obsession with using exotic poisons rather than just having people shot dead).
Warfare is not about killing a handful of unarmed businessmen and so on – warfare is a largescale undertaking.
Yes the three points of Tony Parsons are all valid – agreed Perry.
As for strange allies and strange enemies – were some of our “allies” ever really allies?
Take the example of Mr Peter Hitchens – a famous “right winger” in Britain.
When it came to British independence he did NOT vote for it – his endless patriotic talk did not even translate to voting for British independence.
He claims to hate American Progressives and love traditional Britain – yet he supports the Prohibitionism of the American Progressive movement, which traditional Britain rejected.
He supports government backed trade union “Collective Bargaining” – in spite of W.H. Hutt showing that this is a machine for creating mass UNEMPLOYMENT.
He says that he supports the family and other traditional voluntary institutions – yet he supports the state taking over their basic functions (in education, health, old age, income support – and-so-on), which inevitably has meant that the family (and other traditional cultural institutions) have withered over time. One can not have Big Government and Social Conservatism – not over time.
He even supports government owned railways – as if modern (post 1940s) Britain has got railways right (Network Rail is a 100% government owned) and Japan (with its private railways) has got things wrong.
Nor is it “just” the Ukraine – I have recently been reminded of the position of Mr Peter Hitchens on both World Wars.
Was this Gentleman (though well meaning) ever really an ally?
And the same may well be true of a lot of Mr Putin’s friends here. Mr Putin has been in power for decades – his record of establishing a de facto dictatorship and supporting dictatorship in other lands – is horribly plain.
“No lockdown in Russia” – yes there was, and it was very harsh.
“No Cancel Culture in Russia” – yes there was and is (people have lost their jobs, or even been murdered, for saying things the regime does not like).
“No Muslims in Russia” – there are millions of Muslims in Russia and Mr Putin is allied with Pakistan (Khan – the man who pretends that Muslims are not being slaughtered in China, because the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship has PAID OFF his government – the government of Pakistan has betrayed fellow Muslims in return for MONEY) and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“No abortion in Russia” – it has one of the highest abortion rates in the world.
Everything the pro Putin “right” says about the Putin regime is just not true – and it is often the opposite of the truth.
“You tool of Biden and the Woke establishment”.
Anyone who comes out with that line of attack is an idiot – my hostility to the “Woke” establishment of the West is not exactly a secret.
I wonder if Mr Putin ever killed anyone himself as an intelligence officer – his obsession with using incredibly complicated and exotic ways to kill opponents fills me with doubt.
In real life one does not follow the ways of James Bond film villains – exotic poisons and so on. “Keep it simple stupid”.
Perry, it is you spouting disinformation and western propaganda. The war porn has gone to your head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz5cNzgF1-U
James Delingpole has gone nuts. It’s sad.
Ruralcounsel, you are spouting disinformation and Russian propaganda. The GB News ‘tard you link to may not understand what is happening in Ukraine (by his own admission), yet that doesn’t stop him opining on it. Unlike him, and probably you, I have actually been there many times.
Johnathan Pearce – I noticed that something was very wrong with James Dellingpole when he started spouting 9/11 “truther” stuff. At first I thought he was joking – but it became horribly obvious that he was not joking. That he really thought that 9/11 was an “inside job” – not done by “a man in a cave”.
However, I also failed – instead of trying to help Mr Dellingpole I just “blocked” him on Twitter and forgot about him. I am not proud of the way I behaved – I am ashamed that I failed to even try and help him.
When I get isolated (and I do) and start drifting into mad thoughts, a friend will arrive and say “get off that computer Paul – we are off to see a castle” (or some other place) and the madness passes.
It passes because people HELP me – whereas I did not even try to help Mr Dellingpole.
Ruralcousel
If you actually watched what you posted a link to – you will know that Neil Oliver did NOT contradict anything that Perry has said (Perry has just pointed that out). Indeed I did not need the link – because I watch Neil Oliver’s show.
What did Mr Oliver do just after this monologue? He had on some guests who understood the Ukraine – and who said just-about what Perry has said.
That is why Neil Oliver is a good historian – when he does not know something he does not pretend to know it, he goes to people who specialise in this area and looks at the evidence.
I do not trust the “mainstream media” or the “Woke establishment” (I HATE those people).
I trust people such as Perry de Havilland – who actually have first hand knowledge.
And when I disagree with Perry de Havilland – he is the first to know. I am not exactly shy about expressing disagreement – with anyone.
Paul Marks (February 28, 2022 at 12:08 pm), Putin kills people abroad in exotic ways to advertise that he did it – that he can kill that blatantly in Britain and get away with it. It’s like firing the Dark Mark into the sky – what’s the point of making an example if you leave the least doubt that it was you who did.
Some westerners were puzzled when Stalin made public USSR law saying that children of 12 could be tried on capital charges. After all, he could have killed children without making it official (and did – as Conquest remarks, “the law said 12 but at times of ‘heightened class struggle’, children considerably younger had to take their chance”). The show trials had several defendants with children of 12 or 13. The very fact Stalin made the law public sent a message about the direction they were getting to plead guilty and beg to be shot.
This is just one of many ways in which Stalin lies heavy over all this issue, and makes much of this thread’s discussion rather superficial. At the time, some claimed Stalinism was the price paid for Russia to advance. Actually, the price of Stalinism was so high that Russia has yet to pay it in full.
I watched that podcast and confirm Paul’s summary.
Perry,
I watched the video ruralcounsel provided. What is said in that video that you consider Russian propaganda?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE
Do you consider this video to also be Russian propaganda?
I was actually referring to some of ruralcounsel’s other remarks being propaganda rather than the video. But I am done wasting my time engaging with you.
And then Neil Oliver had a guest on to the programme who said, basically, what Perry has already said.
And Neil Oliver did NOT contradict him – indeed seemed to accept what he had said.
Namely – that the Ukrainian government was democratically elected in 2019 (it did not come into office in 2014 as some people seem to think) and that invasion by Mr Putin is unacceptable.
So what the bleep is the argument on this thread about?
We should all now be in agreement.
Nor is this conflict about “the Crimea” or “the Donbass” (as some people still seem to think) – Mr Putin occupied them back in 2014.
Please people – so some background research before expressing an opinion.
Neil Oliver did NOT express an opinion – he said he did not know what was going on and did not trust the mainstream media. So he had someone on the show to explain matters to him (and the viewers).
And that person said, essentially, what Perry has said – and Neil Oliver did not disagree.
It is as if people were trying to justify the invasion of Poland by saying……
“Mr Hitler has a right to occupy the Rhineland” (as if 1939 was 1936).
Or “The Polish government and Polish society had the following flaws…..”.
I am not making that up – Mr Peter Hitchens produced a book about the 2nd World War that has a long attack on Poland in it.
The agenda being horribly obvious – to try and pretend that Britain and France should not have declared war in response to the German invasion of Poland. NOT because Mr Hitchens believes that Britain and France should have stood up in defence of Austria or the Czechs, he is AGAINST trying to deter Mr Hitler in these cases as well.
Mr Putin has even had people murdered IN BRITAIN.
Yes – IN BRITAIN.
Even the most strict isolationist would accept that if someone murders people INSIDE your own country, that person is an enemy.
I am getting tired of this now – people, stop trying to blame the crimes of Mr Putin on “the CIA” or other such.
Mr Putin is responsible for his own crimes – he must go.
His chief victims (before the invasion of Ukraine) were Russians themselves – he destroyed such things as opposition television stations, and has had many Russians murdered over DECADES.
“Start fracking.”
Whilst this is obviously welcome, I am now far too cynical to take this entirely on trust.
How long before the line is “look at that those evil Tories who put in all those ferocious anti-fracking regs”?
[…] – Niall Kilmartin […]
As my grandma used to say, “stupid for others, smart for himself”.