DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Russia cont.

i agree, but maybe he's in a bunker somewhere. maybe he's playing the strongman role to a fault, and is right there in the Kremlin in plain sight. but when he started raising the threat level with nuclear aggression, as ex-KBG he's well aware that his enemies are now being briefed on potential special ops missions... atleast, that's where i'd be based on the current decision making.

but then this dude is crazy, so maybe he thinks if he can survive a hit job and send that out quickly to his puppets, that would trigger enough national outrage within his borders to go all in on a nuclear holocaust. and that's the problem: anything like that and he's pressing the button. he's looking for any slither of offensive aggression from ukraine and NATO so that he can justify using the big guns militaries invest all the money into. so with the inside job scenario, probably the only way it ends without nukes is if he's actually dead.

maybe this is his way of trying to set up a real brawl in the open field? it still isn't over even with all the reports, but i think the only way to end it without nukes is to play his game and make him escalate the situation until he's completely backed into a corner. he isn't that far in the corner just yet, there's still some holdouts in the global community. i think if the situation continues the way it is, with the majority of his military refusing to fight and outright walk away from their duties, it might bring enough shame to make him acknowledge the reality of what he's done. could be the shame is enough to make him step down? i gotta keep reminding myself that Russia is not the west, especially the Kremlin. they are very much anti-western, and so we just dont fundamentally think the same way. so someone whose more familiar on eastern countries and philosophical thought would greatly be appreciated in this thread. we tend to only buy into one of two narratives in a time like this, and because of that, we dont do enough to understand the other narrative. while its not justifiable, it would aid in understanding how to defeat the enemy more effectively. shout out to DC.

i mean what if we're actually educated on the russian people, and find out that they actually like the Iron Fist styles of leadership and government?

what does the EU and US do with that information? that means if we leave them alone, they will eventually say 'third time's the charm.' i cant even begin to go over the many different directions any of this can go, so i really hope our "leaders" are thinking ahead and still taking a birds eye view on this every now and then.

The Russian people aren't like us. They have never had a say in their government or free elections.
They do not have the ability to complain and have the government address those issues.
Their leaders serve until death or removal by the rich and powerful.
The Russian people have suffered through some really bad times and they are tough.

We on the other hand start crying about inflation and our leaders know their jobs are on the line so they address the problem.
Their leaders barely know they exist.

one thing you're not gonna do is try to make them victims like they're North Koreans or something. we see people rise up and riot against governments around the world. russians have been very passive when it comes to government corruption.

either russian culture says that they are incapable of holding their government accountable and must be babysat for the foreseeable future, or they like this totalitarian style government. if thats the case, fine. however, they shouldn't have nuclear capability. which means they need babysitters anyway.

the rise of Putin didn't happen overnight. and now Russia has an official track record of this level of tyranny, so we need to stop pretending as if russian citizens are victims.

And when Putin is gone, he will be replaced with the next lifetime guy.

The people survive the day to day.

Look at all the people who tried to run against Putin or the people who stood up against him over the years.

They dead.

well if they aren't capable of defending themselves from tyranny, why shouldn't we treat them like the middle east and isolate them? nobody ever makes those sort of excuses for those people living under terrorist regimes nor gives them thought on a day to day basis. why should we care what happens?

i like countries that have the willpower to defend their countries against enemies, both foreign and domestic. like ukraine, for example. maybe you guys are right; some cultures are just incompatible with other cultures.

Seems we are finally beginning to isolate them.

Doesn't help as we continue to buy $100 million per day in Russian oil though.

$100 for every barrel, all in Putin's pocket.

Are we as a people tough enough to tell him to keep his oil?

I am, don't know about you.

the Russian economy can't even wipe its ass with $100 million a day. Putin's is burning through funds and accumulating debt far too fast, combined with the loss in economic activity and assets frozen from various countries. and im sure if it came down to it, we can most certainly hault oil imports from Russia and recover in a relatively short amount of time.

sorry but oil wont be saving your boy's ass in Russia.

If we produced more oil, we wouldn't need oil from your boy.

if we invest in more green energy, not only would we cut off oil imports from your boy, but lower the oil consumption needed within our own beautiful country.

last time i checked, we have the ability to do that with ease. its just about commitment.

If we reversed Obama's decision allowing oil to be exported, we wouldn't have high gas prices. I'm down with that.

Belarusian president displays map suggesting Putin plans to attack Moldova

https://www.yahoo.com/news/belarusian-president-displays-map-suggesting-222320415.html

This is either a massive misdirection, or we just watched one of the most outdated military strategies executed in modern warfare, all in 4K HD.

I can't get over hearing that he's repositioning his nuke subs and mobile launchers today. They were watching his air force to see if they were loading nukes, or related equipment on them. This could be posturing for the west, him taking a defensive posture, or actually putting them in place for a first strike with his 'hypersonic new toys'. Definitely concerning.

well with hypersonic comes hyper destruction. when word gets out to the majority of russians that their own leader is killing indiscriminately by bombing ukrainian cities into the ground, will that be the thing that sparks an uprising, or will they just shrug their shoulders? i think the only way this ends without 100k deaths is by a massive riot from russian civilians against Putin's aggressions. people can make all the excuses they want about corruption in russia, but this is their leader, after all. he didn't gain this much power and control overnight, so at what point are citizens gonna be criticized for producing some of the most ruthless dictators in history?

there's really no right or wrong answer because who freaking knows. all i know is that this doesnt happen unless russian society was very complacent, submissive and indifferent to authoritarian officials.

Russia accounts for 3% of our oil imports.

j/c...

It is kind of crazy when you think about the history of their leadership:

You basically have a Hitler equivalent who would have done the same thing without the counterweight also being stationed in Europe at the end of the war.

Then you have the shoe-banging whack job who tried to send missiles to Cuba.

Then the Afghan invader.

Two guys who died quick.

Gorbachov. I’ll give ‘en this one.

Boris “Drunk and stripped down on the streets of DC looking for pizza” Yeltsin.

And then, of course, Putin.

[img]https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...u0APRQTRXb2ovSN6KPxaoBeg&oe=62247CF8[/img]

norway and finland are sending weapons and equipment to help support ukraine.

unless this was some master plan by Putin, i cant imagine him being in the best of moods now that he has unified Europe against him.

imagine being so out of line that switzerland joins other countries in enacting economic sanctions on Russia.

Yeah I was shocked by that. He even ticked off a country that is known for being almost fiercely neutral.

I can't even begin to imagine the cajones it takes to have an invading soldier in front of you firing his weapon and you don't even flinch.

And you are all in with both feet off the cliff flying with trump on that type of gov’t. Mmmmm

That has to take a toll on that soldier too. You’re in a huge convoy against unarmed people, firing off your weapon, and they’re not moving.

I just drove across country once again west to Denver Co. and 99% of all the oil drills were pumping when a few years ago they all stood idle. It was simply an amazing site to see. So I think this making Biden look bad on stuff is just another false optic Republican’s use and it shows how they must politically charge everything including a bloody war started by a communist who trump loved.

j/c

BBC updates:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60582327

Mariupol mayor says Russia relentlessly shelling residential areas
A destroyed building in Mariupol
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
The mayor of the south-eastern city of Mariupol says that scores of civilians have been killed over the past 14 hours in relentless shelling of residential areas by Russian forces.

Vadym Boychenko told Ukraine's 1+1 TV Channel that Moscow's troops have also stopped civilian evacuations from the port city, preventing thousands from fleeing the battle.

"There’s been colossal destruction of residential infrastructure, there are many wounded and unfortunately many civilian dead, women, children, old people," Boychenko said. "A full-scale genocide of the Ukrainian people is under way."

Quote Message: You have to understand that the occupation forces of the Russian Federation have done everything to stop the exit of civilians from our city of half a million people.
You have to understand that the occupation forces of the Russian Federation have done everything to stop the exit of civilians from our city of half a million people.

Quote Message: Our railway link has been cut – they even went to the railway station and fired on our diesel locomotives so that people can’t be evacuated. So their mission is to destroy us, they have no intention of helping civilians. from Vadym Boychenko
Our railway link has been cut – they even went to the railway station and fired on our diesel locomotives so that people can’t be evacuated. So their mission is to destroy us, they have no intention of helping civilians.

Vadym Boychenko
The city of Mariupol sits in a strategic location, splitting Russian forces on the annexed Crimean Peninsula from separatist troops in eastern Ukraine.

It isn't. The pumping started several years ago. Many have shut back down. We are back to importing from Russia and are no longer exporting oil. I am not trying to start a political fight, or make this a anti President Biden rant, but we have curtailed oil production.

Yeah but... PS saw it with his own two eyes!

99% of the pumps were pumping... and 93% of those pumping in a non-threatening manner.

The US energy deficit is a hoax!

How much of our oil do we import from Russia?
How much oil do we export?

Of the oil we import from Russia - what % does it make up of the total oil consumption of the USA?

Out of interest - how much oil does Brazil import and why?

And that, perfect, may be the dumbest most ignorant thing I have ever read. Are you off your meds???

Oil wells pump based on the market price of oil versus cost of extraction. They would most likely be pumping now.

Don't know all of those answers? Do you?

I just thought it was funny that Spiral is stating that the flack Biden's energy plan is getting is a "false optic"... based on his cross-country trek observing oil wells.

Maybe if he would take a nice Sunday drive through those countries, we could get the real story.


I know that we should be importing NO oil from Russia, and if the amount we do is so "minuscule", why wouldn't we stop?

I believe that the Russian oil we import makes up about 1% of the oil we refine for our domestic market.

Brazil was thrown in there - because I agree we should import no oil from Russia. I think we should aim to import no oil from the Saudis also. The way to achieve that is to commit to stop using petroleum as a fuel for our vehicles ... Brazil committed to a move away from crude oil/petroleum in 1975. Today 90% of new vehicles in Brazil run on ethanol. 73% of all cars.

https://www.rapidtransition.org/stories/the-rise-of-brazils-sugarcane-cars/#:~:text=Brazil%20today%20is%20home%20to,mix%20of%20ethanol%20and%20gasoline.

When you look at it from only one direction you will only see a part of the landscape. There's a much bigger picture way of looking at it. The world wants Russian oil. There are parts of the world that will buy Russian oil no matter what. Creating fear on the world oil market will only drive oil prices even higher. That means Putin will ineven more money for his oil supplies. Lining Putin's pockets with even more money is not a strategically sound way of moving forward.

And that's exactly right. Same with coal mining. When prices are so low there is no profit in mining or pumping oil, those mines and oil pumps remain down. When the price goes up enough to earn a worthwhile profit, they produce.

But they don't seem to mind that we important all that oil from OPEC. They refuse to admit that America on its own can't "drill their way to oil independence". They don't seem to care that one of OPEC's members is Iran. They just keep screaming "drill baby drill" while anyone with an ounce of common sense knows we will not, can not and never will be oil independent based on America drilling oil. Instead, they rail against alternative energy which is our only hope that we become energy independent. So one at that point must ask themselves, what are they really saying?

... And yet 8% of what we import.

Really, I'm just insisting that there is absolutely no reason to continue that practice.


Brazil and their long journey to "moving away from crude" is interesting. In reality they're just taking advantage of their unique ability to grow sugar cane... over 600 million metric tons per year. That's great that it works for them.

Bush mandated increases in Ethanol use and by the time it reached 10%, it caused a global food cost crisis. Kinda comparing apples and oranges there. Growing your own is for marijuana, not fuel. But it is, by contrast, an easier fix than an entire paradigm shift... yet it still took Brazil 40+ years to reach benchmarks many on the left are demanding within 20-30 years. The Green New Deal? Zero emission by 2030.


My problem with our whole energy philosophy is that we think energy independence, and taking a similar 40 year journey as Brazil, can't coexist.

Biden's plan straight out of the gate was to punish ourselves as a ways and means of forcing faster change. It's not unlike hiding the cookie jar from yourself to force a healthier diet. It may have an effect, but it's not going to make you eat your peas and carrots. Especially if you can't afford to drive to the grocery store.

Other leaders have failed miserably by giving billions in tax breaks to global superpower corporations and asking them to find new ways to compete with themselves. And then those leaders throw their hands in the air wondering why it didn't work... while those same rich corporations post up negative tax bills (wink, wink).


Seems to me the biggest obstacle to "change", is and has always been, the criminals running the game. And if the biggest bully in the world is gonna put a gun to my head, I'm gonna yell out "drill, baby, drill".

Yes, we should scare the oil market which will drive prices even higher. That would line Putin's pockets with even more money. Oil is a very volatile market that changes at the drop of a hat. Any variable increases prices.

"Drill, drill, drill" is empty rhetoric which will change nothing. But then I expect that from certain people.

And rather than address that our only way to energy independence is through alternative energy, which is 100% factual, you try to derail the point by some zero emission BS which is no part of this conversation. The short sightedness of a certain portion of America is making it harder to make America energy independent. You sir are part of that problem. You advocate something that can't accomplish it while trying to ridicule the only possibility that can accomplish it.

Bro, I haven't read a post with more b.s., falsehoods and false accusations in quite awhile.

"only way to energy independence is through alternative energy, which is 100% factual" is one of the more mindless things I've ever read here.

Our only way to march to and sustain energy independence will always be a combination of all forms of energy.


Me advocating for a mix makes me "the problem".


And what in the world does "scare the oil market" mean. Geesh... seems like a madman with a horde of energy, and nobody to threaten his stronghold on it, has done a lot more to "scare the market" than me telling him to shove my share straight up his @$$.

I don't know how you come up with some of this stuff.

j/c...

Keeping their sense of humor!