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Russia/Ukraine conflict
- Thread starter amolina
- Start date
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Unless you were under a rock, he did (that's how a bipartisan bill was passed in the Senate), just the House Republicans had other plans and now Congress is resting.
At least downing more and more Russian warplanes and massive battle and landing ships, and blowing up attacking Russian columns helps take the edge off the Russian movement into Avdiivka, and is probably more effective in the long run.
And taking the fight to Moscow in noticeable ways as Russian elections approach should take some of the shine off Putins success in Avdiivka.
And taking the fight to Moscow in noticeable ways as Russian elections approach should take some of the shine off Putins success in Avdiivka.
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Pulling out of Avdiivka was absolutely the right move. Ukraine held on to Bakhmut for too long and suffered far too many casualties at the tail end of the defense. Ukraine cannot afford the levels of personnel losses that Russia seems to be ok with.
So a lot of that noise when Zelensky was planning on firing Zalhuzny, a lot of that was Russian disinformation it turns out. They heard about the plans to fire him and they juiced it up with theories about Zalhuzny running for office and such.
Bipartisanship can only happen when both sides have an interest in it. Nobody can negotiate with people who refuse to come to the table.
Biden has been the most effective Democrat at bipartisanship in the last 25 years. But there are Republicans, most in the House, who are more interested in seeing Biden fail, even if it also means the country fails, than do anything productive. These Republicans keep all the rest in line with terror tactics. A handful of Republicans in the House broke ranks and voted for Trump's second impeachment. All faced very tough primary challenges and some lost their seats. The ones that held on are shunned. I know of at least one that is on the list of retiring Congresspeople this year.
When the Democrats controlled the House they set up a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection. They invited the Republicans to join them. Two hard core conservatives did and faced such backlash that they are no longer in Congress. Both of these conservatives said they were surprised how the Democrats listened to them and worked with them as equal colleagues.
The bullying goes beyond just making their jobs tougher. They fear that the bullies will dox them and let the world know where their families live and their children go to school, and the nuts who follow these bullies will take things into their own hands and attack their families. A lot of people who have stood up to these bullies have found crazies coming to their door in the middle of the night and received physical threats from crazies. Some of the crazies have attacked people.
For around 30 years the Democrats have been open to working across the isle, but increasingly the Republican brand is obstruction rather than constructive dialog. The fact that Biden was able to get Republicans in the Senate to work with him as much as he has is bordering on a miracle. Before the latest round of support for Israel and Ukraine, he got some really amazing legislation through the Senate with bipartisan support.
There are some bullies in the Senate too, but they have less power than in the House.
The goal with Ukrainian a defensive is to make the Russians pay as much as possible for every meter of ground while keeping their own casualties as low as possible. Russia doesn't seem to realize that every man lost on the battlefield is a hole in their economy for the next 20-40 years, so they draft mobiks and throw them into the fight in massive meat waves. They also are suffering staggering equipment losses trying to support these attacks. Not only is this wasting equipment they can't replace any time soon, but it also is a loss of a vehicle crew who has at least some training beyond the mobiks on the ground.
Russia is eating its seed corn. They have a lot of it so it won't be noticeable for a while, but Russia is screwed after this war is over, no matter how it turns out.
Russia is demographically in a lot of trouble. A healthy population pyramid has the most people in the youngest age groups and the smallest in the oldest. A good pyramid has straight sides with the population being the same in each year from retirement age on down to newborns. This is a stable population. The US has a straight sided pyramid.
Both Russia and China have very lopsided pyramids with the largest cadre of the population being people in their 50s with the younger cadres being much smaller. Both countries are about to have a large number of people at retirement age with a much smaller population supporting them. Japan hit this point in the early 1990s and they spent 30 years in the economic blahs. The large number of retirees are finally dying off and the population is stabilizing.
Now Russia is taking hundreds of thousands of working age men and getting them killed, maimed, or given them such severe PTSD they will become unproductive alcoholics after the war. Just before the largest cadre of the population retires. They are going to see a huge contraction in their labor force that is going to tank their economy.
navguy12
Active Member
navguy12
Active Member
navguy12
Active Member
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
I've been stuck by the Russian statement about Navalny, that he died from 'sudden death syndrome.'
The physician side of me says 'that is a BS statement.'
My Western oriented, more political side wonders at the Russian meaning of the statement. Could it mean 'no information will be offered,' or could it be 'we murdered him.' Or something else ?
Any insight, kind folks ? And to be clear, I have always viewed Navalny as a want-to-be-Putin, but the apparent callousness and manipulation by the Russian authorities says something really evil about their society institutions.
The physician side of me says 'that is a BS statement.'
My Western oriented, more political side wonders at the Russian meaning of the statement. Could it mean 'no information will be offered,' or could it be 'we murdered him.' Or something else ?
Any insight, kind folks ? And to be clear, I have always viewed Navalny as a want-to-be-Putin, but the apparent callousness and manipulation by the Russian authorities says something really evil about their society institutions.
My guess is they gave him another dose of Novochok and watched him die. Putin probably saw the footage of him smiling and laughing the day prior and decided to finish the job.
Almost zero chance of "sudden death."
The word preposterous comes to mind. Not impossible, but no way will we know without an independent autopsy. As if.
SwedishAdvocate
Active Member
A qoute from that article:
"Ukraine’s ranks are depleted by two years of war. As it battles the Russian war machine, Ukraine is welcoming hardened fighters from one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. [My underline]"
No offense, but unless I don't recall correctly, that Toronto Star paper have been printing quite a lot of material that seems to dwell on Ukrainian hardship. And there is of course plenty of such hardship, but nonetheless I'm taking everything from the Toronto Star with a hefty chunk of salt...
But the part about soldiers from Colombia or elsewhere siding with UKR is of course welcomed.
SwedishAdvocate
Active Member
What happens if these congressmen resign – say for some personal reason or whatever? Does the GOP get to appoint a new member of Congress or will there be an election to fill that seat? Will Congress be 'operational' when the seat is vacant or do they shut down that chamber until the seat gets filled again?
If they can resign and Congress remains 'operational' while the seat is vacant – then maybe that could be a way to protest against these bullies. Seems the GOP's majority in the House is pretty slim...
DanCar
Active Member
Varies per state law. Many states Governor gets to appoint replacement. Some states there is a special election scheduled.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
100%
Asking those low-lifes to resign is like asking pigs to wear lipstick. They get very annoyed, and they still stink.
