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What is the most powerful flying bug? This poll is closed. |
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| 🦋 |
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15 | 3.71% |
| 🦇 |
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115 | 28.47% |
| 🪰 |
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12 | 2.97% |
| 🐦 |
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67 | 16.58% |
| dragonfly |
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94 | 23.27% |
| 🦟 |
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14 | 3.47% |
| 🐝 |
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87 | 21.53% |
| Total: | 404 votes | ||
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Basically, Putin may not care about killing fascists, but the average Russian probably does and provides some support for the war. That said, I don’t know how many leaders actually care about ideology (even left wing ones) rather than more practical material and strategic matters. Wars aren’t usually over ideology (and neither was the Second World War).
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Nov 9, 2022 23:42
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yeah it's clear the supposed antifascist motives for the war were for domestic consumption
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Nov 9, 2022 23:47
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Ardennes posted:Basically, Putin may not care about killing fascists, but the average Russian probably does and provides some support for the war. I agree with this; it's just important for us to be real about what the Russian state's war aims actually were and are, IMO.
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Nov 9, 2022 23:48
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saying ww2 wasn’t about ideology boy idk about that
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Nov 9, 2022 23:48
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Frosted Flake posted:Deciding on half of what was asked was worse than either leaving or committing the unpalatable amount required for a good result. I’ve no faith that many more Western troops into Afghanistan for more time would have been a “good result.” Cutting and leaving (or never occupying in the forst place) would have been preferable to inertia muddling along, yeah.
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Nov 9, 2022 23:50
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Majorian posted:I agree with this; it's just important for us to be real about what the Russian state's war aims actually were and are, IMO. Russia's war aims are virtually unknown to even itself at this point. What a waste of lives for no real reason, as usual.
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Nov 9, 2022 23:52
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Majorian posted:I agree with this; it's just important for us to be real about what the Russian state's war aims actually were and are, IMO. I would say mostly geopolitical, and it is the result of a war over control of Ukraine that the Russians have been losing since 2005. I would say the “Putin just wants land” argument falls apart from a historical perspective. I think they know what their mission is: the issue is they have been constantly attempting to pull it off with “one weird trick” and it keeps blowing up and they can’t figure out why the other side just doesn’t give up. Ardennes has issued a correction as of 23:59 on Nov 9, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 23:54
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Ardennes posted:I would say mostly geopolitical, and it is the result of a war over control of Ukraine that the Russians have been losing since 2005. Definitely; it's about keeping NATO and the EU off their Western doorstep, among other things.
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Nov 9, 2022 23:58
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I have to say though. Medvedev playing the turbopatriot hawk is a great start to his '24 presidential campaign.
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Nov 9, 2022 23:58
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Head of the Kherson occupation administration Kirill Stremousov reportedly died in a car crash while fleeing.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:01
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Conspiratiorist posted:Head of the Kherson occupation administration Kirill Stremousov reportedly died in a car crash while fleeing. Genichesk is east of Kherson op.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:04
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Zodium posted:the general theme of productive forces receding behind national boundaries is the consolidation of local power in the system by catabolism of absolute system power. as a whole, each directly involved capitalist polity has become weaker in absolute terms via destruction of capital and depletion of military forces. at the same time, the western bourgeoisie wins because ukraine's national assets and the ukrainian working class have been sold to finance the defense. the russian ruling class wins because it has nationalized industries and grown fat on energy crisis money. the ukrainian ruling class wins because they are gorging themselves on nato money and weapons. absolute losers are the larger system of Capital and the working classes writ large, the relative winners are the uninvolved. imo there are no absolute winners except China. Is even China an absolute winner? Europe is now much more under the US thump compared to if the crisis had blown up over the Taiwan straight. Honestly without the war I'd expect everything to end up the same, but the EU China relations explode later and Viennese Universites simulate weird semi conductors for Chinese companies a few years longer.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:05
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Lostconfused posted:I have to say though. Medvedev playing the turbopatriot hawk is a great start to his '24 presidential campaign. Just realized Russia, Ukraine, America, Britain, and Taiwan all have elections coming up in 2024, and there's a good chance this stupid war will still be going by then. Gonna be a fun year!
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Nov 10, 2022 00:05
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genericnick posted:Is even China an absolute winner? Europe is now much more under the US thump compared to if the crisis had blown up over the Taiwan straight. Honestly without the war I'd expect everything to end up the same, but the EU China relations explode later and Viennese Universites simulate weird semi conductors for Chinese companies a few years longer. they just bought a terminal at hamburg port
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Nov 10, 2022 00:07
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Conspiratiorist posted:Head of the Kherson occupation administration Kirill Stremousov reportedly died in a car crash while fleeing. if you believe that ive got a bridge to sell you. fair warning it's damaged from an incident
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Nov 10, 2022 00:09
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mawarannahr posted:they might have won if you weren’t goofing off Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice was written by an artillery officer, but went unheeded: It will not be out of place before entering on a closer consideration of the subject, to examine for a moment what are these special difficulties involved in hill warfare. Some of them are obvious enough. It hardly needs demonstration that a rugged mountainous country destitute of roads, renders .., the movement of organized bodies of fighting men slow and laborious, quite apart from what the enemy may do. Any intersected terrain favours the people of the country who are acquainted with its intricacies, at the expense of invaders to whom it is unknown. Wheeled transport cannot be employed in such theatres of war, and vast trains of pack animals have to take its place. Supplies are rarely abundant in the mountains. All these are points that strike one at once; but there are others that are not so self-evident. In the first place there is the wear and tear caused by isolated marksmen perched on the hilltops, who fire down upon the troops in camp and on the march, whose desultory enterprises render outpost duties very onerous, who inflict appreciable losses among officers and men, and who thin the columns of transport with their bullets —this is more prejudicial to the efficiency of the army than is generally supposed. Then again there is the unfortunate fact that, from their very nature, these operations are constantly imposing upon the regular troops the undesirable role of acting as a force retiring before irregular warriors. Then there is the naturally warlike character of the average Hill-man to be taken into account. He is a fighter all the world over, and always has been. The history of Europe proves it. Russian experiences in the Caucasus prove it. Anglo-Indian conflicts with the Bunerwals and Mohmunds and Afridis and Miranzais prove it. It is true no doubt, that even the most truculent of Pathan clans, even Zakka Khels and Mamunds, do not display the reckless bravery which the Zulus did in the days of Ulundi, and which has so often won admiration for the forces of the Mahdi and of the Khalifa. They do not give themselves away, but for all that they are warriors to the core. The guerilla of the hills plays the game in his own way. Amongst their boulders and gorges the tribesmen of the Indian frontier are most formidable foemen ; they are active, cunning, determined, and often take a long time before they acknowledge themselves vanquished, although once beaten, they take it like good sportsmen, hoping for better luck next time. Of late years, moreover, a new feature has been introduced into Warfare in their territory. They have acquired a stock of modern rifles, which have made their tactics far more difficult to cope with than when they trusted to antiquated matchlocks having neither range nor accuracy. It was the martial instinct of the Afridis and their excellent arms which, brought intoplay in a theatre of War presenting unprecedented difficulties to a disciplined army, made the Tirah campaign one of the most dangerous and arduous struggles which British troops have been engaged in since the Indian mutiny. Moreover in hill warfare regular armies have to contend stones and not only with hostile bullets and charges of swordsmen, but also with the missiles which nature provides for the defenders of a mountainous country. The enemy rolls down rocks and stones, often with murderous precision. A large proportion of the defenders of the Malakand Pass in 1896, trusted entirely to the effect produced by dislodging boulders. The disaster which befel a party of soldiers in the Koragh defile near Chitral at the outbreak of those disturbances which led to Sir K.Low's advance, was also mainly caused by crowds of Chitralis who hurled down stones from coigns of vantage. It is interesting to note that instances have occurred where mountaineers have rolled down trees upon the troops. Experience shows that in hill warfare the broad principle that the making of a good bag should be a principal aim in offensive tactics, when dealing with guerillas, is especially applicable. They are not easily caught, these mountaineers. Expert cragsmen, as nimble as goats among their declivities and boulders, knowing every cleft and every nullah, it is wonderful what mobility they possess. If their flanks or rear are threatened they disappear as if by magic. Unless detachments manage to get where they can pick off the fugitives as they bolt, the assailants find after their weary scramble up the hillsides that the bird has flown untouched, and they have to satisfy themselves with the empty honour of gaining possession of a knoll or crest which is of no use to them. If possible, therefore, the flanks of hostile gatherings should be turned by unseen parties of active men and picked shots. In warfare of this character the enemy is apt to retire into mountain fastnesses with his women and children and belongings, and these must be visited and, if necessary, cleared. Very determined hill-men may decline to come to terms till every little valley and gorge has been harried. All this takes time and to get the work done numerous small columns must be employed, even if the transport question did not dictate a dissemination of the force when it is on the move. The destruction of villages is a task which is so often imposed upon regular troops in hill warfare that a few points with reference to this particular class of work may be included here. Although the habitations of the enemy are sometimes perched on crags and pinnacles, and are occasionally found clinging to steep declivities, they are as a rule constructed either on terraces or else down in the valleys, and owing to the topographical features of the country they will therefore generally be commanded by adjacent heights and spurs. If a strong force is available to deal with the village, it should have no difficulty in occupying the high ground and in keeping the enemy off. But if only a small body of troops be detailed for the enterprise, the occupation of surrounding spurs may be impracticable, and in that case the work of demolition will probably be carried out under considerable difficulties. Mountain guns do not have much effect upon Pathan villages without a heavy expenditure of ammunition. If the houses are of wood they have earth piled on the roofs as a rule, and they will not burn unless holes are made in these. The demolition of towers, although an easy engineering operation in itself, takes some little time. It is often very difficult to find the stores of grain etc. if the enemy has been expecting a visitation, and unless these provisions be dealt with the job is incomplete. The destruction of a village cannot be effected in a moment, to ensure the work is done thoroughly by the assigned force it must act methodically and with deliberation. In the Pathan country the presence of women and children in a village may be taken as a sure sign that the men belonging to it do not mean to fight. This fact need not of course influence the decision to destroy it. But, from the tactical point of view, it is useful to know hostile intentions, because there may be more than one place to be dealt with, and the enemy may mean fighting at one and not at another. Note - this is one of several chapters in the 500 page book about destroying the villages of various "hill-men", "bush-men", "tribals", "savages", "asiatics" etc. etc. Frosted Flake has issued a correction as of 00:12 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 00:09
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i say swears online posted:they just bought a terminal at hamburg port Am I wrong in thinking China buying physical assets in Europe seems like more of a constraint on China than Europe? If there's a geopolitical crisis, can't Germany just nationalize it?
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Nov 10, 2022 00:12
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genericnick posted:Is even China an absolute winner? Europe is now much more under the US thump compared to if the crisis had blown up over the Taiwan straight. Honestly without the war I'd expect everything to end up the same, but the EU China relations explode later and Viennese Universites simulate weird semi conductors for Chinese companies a few years longer. The EU wasn’t even close to a neutral organization, and in all honesty, I don’t think American influence is seriously deeper than it was before the conflict. In contrast, I think the West has shown a very weak hand on a lot of fronts from sanctions to energy. Also, Obama was pushing for the pivot to Asia and now the US is now forced fortified Eastern Europe. Russia has no choice but to cozy up to China because of it. It is hard for it not working more out for the China beyond it will take a couple more years for the EU to open up again. Dr Kool-AIDS posted:Am I wrong in thinking China buying physical assets in Europe seems like more of a constraint on China than Europe? If there's a geopolitical crisis, can't Germany just nationalize it? Whoops what happened to BMW sales in China, there must be something wrong with the software. Ardennes has issued a correction as of 00:18 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 00:13
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Dr Kool-AIDS posted:Am I wrong in thinking China buying physical assets in Europe seems like more of a constraint on China than Europe? If there's a geopolitical crisis, can't Germany just nationalize it? this is fair and a point i brought up in d&d to explain why it's not as diabolical as they were making it out to be. the chorus responded "well obviously the chinese would sabotage the port beforehand and then it would be useless"
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Nov 10, 2022 00:17
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Russia waging a timid war on a shoestring budget and trying to avoid headlines while being decried as committed to a genocidal total war is one of the funnier parts of all this.
Frosted Flake has issued a correction as of 00:32 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 00:19
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Ardennes posted:Also, Obama was pushing for the pivot to Asia and now the US is now forced fortified Eastern Europe. Russia has no choice but to cozy up to China because of it. that pivot to asia was specifically the TPP which was all the countries of the asian/oceanian periphery, excluding china. kinda wonder how the war goes if the TPP was ratified
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Nov 10, 2022 00:19
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Frosted Flake posted:Russia waging a timid war on a shoestring budget and trying to avoid headlines while being decrying as waging a genocidal total war is one or the funnier parts of all this. owned
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Nov 10, 2022 00:19
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genericnick posted:Is even China an absolute winner? Europe is now much more under the US thump compared to if the crisis had blown up over the Taiwan straight. Honestly without the war I'd expect everything to end up the same, but the EU China relations explode later and Viennese Universites simulate weird semi conductors for Chinese companies a few years longer. they absolutely are. the point is precisely that it didn't blow up over Taiwan because the process is not random or stochastic such that it could have gone either way. it blew up over Ukraine because the system phase is making inter-capitalist conflict inevitable, but China isn't capitalist and so only indirectly subject to these forces. they already have all the productive forces they need behind national boundaries. what the CPC needs to maintain stability is an uncontested source of energy and raw materials, and it's difficult to imagine a bigger prize in this regard than Russia, while stability for the western bourgeoisie requires them to break either China or Russia.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:21
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i say swears online posted:that pivot to asia was specifically the TPP which was all the countries of the asian/oceanian periphery, excluding china. kinda wonder how the war goes if the TPP was ratified It was also a broader military move that would move more assets to the area and that really isn’t possible. The Russians are stuck in Ukraine and because of it the Americans are stuck in Europe. The US is keeping a lot of Europe for the most part but it can’t be everywhere at once any more.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:29
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Blitz of 404 Error posted:Yes 70 thousand casualties to gain military control of the Donbas and some land near Kherson is a victory (?) I thought syq's were verbotten?
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Nov 10, 2022 00:37
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Frosted Flake posted:Insofar as it created "reading books" as a job for me as opposed to "reading manuals", I suppose so. My apologies, to be clear I don't think it was good you were injured. I think it was good you and your colleagues were expelled from the country. Zodium posted:China isn't capitalist I thought China was capitalist. They're a mixed market economy. Pretty similar economically to many of the liberal democracies historically. You're much smarter at that stuff than me though.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:53
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the ccp is not a capitalist party.
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Nov 10, 2022 00:54
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dk2m posted:that must include civilians too? were there really 115k russian/DLPR troops? Didn't they claim to have evacuated all civilians?
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Nov 10, 2022 00:58
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China's state owned enterprises account for only 40% of china's gdp. Is 50% state enterprise the cutoff for communism?
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Nov 10, 2022 00:58
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Hatebag posted:China's state owned enterprises account for only 40% of china's gdp. Is 50% state enterprise the cutoff for communism? you can read CCP materials and determine their ideology. they are posted on the internet
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Nov 10, 2022 00:59
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Weka posted:My apologies, to be clear I don't think it was good you were injured. I think it was good you and your colleagues were expelled from the country. It's no problem, though 2 Kandak hardly did the job in our absence.
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Nov 10, 2022 01:00
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euphronius posted:the ccp is not a capitalist party. Capitalism obviously isn't their foundational ideology, but in practice they do a lot of capitalism, even if the hypothetical goal is to move beyond that someday, so it's kind of open to interpretation. Mao would certainly consider them capitalists. Presumably Lenin and Marx would too.
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Nov 10, 2022 01:00
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there was or is a long history of communists who thought Russia should have been capitalist first . not the Bolsheviks obviously
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Nov 10, 2022 01:03
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euphronius posted:there was or is a long history of communists who thought Russia should have been capitalist first . not the Bolsheviks obviously No argument there, it's totally valid to think both Russia and China tried to skip steps that can't be skipped.
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Nov 10, 2022 01:04
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mawarannahr posted:owned 
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Nov 10, 2022 01:04
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Dr Kool-AIDS posted:Capitalism obviously isn't their foundational ideology, but in practice they do a lot of capitalism, even if the hypothetical goal is to move beyond that someday, so it's kind of open to interpretation. Mao would certainly consider them capitalists. Presumably Lenin and Marx would too. Eh the NEP…
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Nov 10, 2022 01:05
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euphronius posted:the ccp is not a capitalist party. I agree but the CCP and China are two different things.
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Nov 10, 2022 01:14
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Weka posted:I thought China was capitalist. They're a mixed market economy. Pretty similar economically to many of the liberal democracies historically. You're much smarter at that stuff than me though. Hatebag posted:China's state owned enterprises account for only 40% of china's gdp. Is 50% state enterprise the cutoff for communism? the juxtaposition between western and chinese covid responses finally convinced me that China is not capitalist. it's a question of control. the cardinal trait of a capitalist country is a lack of it, a slavish pursuit of capital expansion and growth at all scales, i.e., a capitalist country produces capital for the sake of producing capital--hence capitalism, because capital controls the state. the cardinal trait of a socialist country, i.e., a country that is actively working to move past capitalism, is the state's ability to control capital; to stop and start the expansion of capital at all scales, because the state controls capital.
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Nov 10, 2022 01:16
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euphronius posted:you can read CCP materials and determine their ideology. they are posted on the internet I think when your party leadership is as billionaire-heavy as the ccp you gotta consider that they might be capitalists
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Nov 10, 2022 01:17
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Zodium posted:the juxtaposition between western and chinese covid responses finally convinced me that China is not capitalist. it's a question of control. the cardinal trait of a capitalist country is a lack of it, a slavish pursuit of capital expansion and growth at all scales, i.e., a capitalist country produces capital for the sake of producing capital--hence capitalism, because capital controls the state. the cardinal trait of a socialist country, i.e., a country that is actively working to move past capitalism, is the state's ability to control capital; to stop and start the expansion of capital at all scales, because the state controls capital. Oh yeah, the chinese state is certainly socialist, i agree
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Nov 10, 2022 01:19
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