Russia is now bombing Ukraine

  On 3/7/2022 at 4:45 PM, chronical said:

how sick would it be if putin and biden duked it out in a mecha battle?

10 year old me would've fucked them both up in a beyblade battle.

  On 3/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, milkface said:

10 year old me would've fucked them both up in a beyblade battle.

My cousin and me had these rough third party metal beyblade parts we got from several gas stations across southern Italy, we would've fucked you up m8

  On 3/7/2022 at 4:39 PM, milkface said:

When you said this:

"Question: would you argue Russia's mission in Syria is a kind of expansionism? 

The invasion in the Ukraine clearly is, btw." - Of course I think the same as you. Hense why I said literally on the same page that this current situation US expansionism up against Russian expansionism using Ukraine as the battlefield. Russia want to push their influence west, and the USA want to push their influence east and neither are happy about the opposite persons' actions.

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That was me questioning your notion of expansionism. That hasn't got anything to do with an assumption you're pro-russian.

This expansionism narrative is typically something coming out of russian propaganda though. I'll give you that. But as far as i'm concerned, this expansionism narrative is bs. Like all the nazism and what not. It's besides the point and irrelevant. The only reason we're talking about it, is because Putin uses these points as excuses to invade the ukraine. 

All this discussion about Nato and US expansionism is mostly catering Putins excuses. And btw, this is not me defending a status quo. Or ignoring the way US operates internationally. This is me calling BS on Putins BS arguments. Which btw is not because of a lack of nuance. Or some supposed binary way to look at things. Putin is using a BS narrative to justify this nonsense blitzkrieg.

As far as I'm concerned, people joining in on this narrative aren't necessarily pro-russian. They're just misguided. But hey, opinion and assholes. Etc.

(are you sure you weren't confusing my posts with chengods?)

Here's an interesting piecet by a Polish anarchist on the whole NATO "expansionism"

Fuck leftist westplaining https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/03/04/fuck-leftist-westplaining/

  Quote

So, let me tell you a few things about Eastern Europeans and NATO and Russia.

We see NATO in a completely different, and I dare say much more nuanced way. We are not fans of it, and we can agree with you on many, many reasons to criticise it.  But when you say “Fuck NATO” or “End NATO expansion”, what I hear is that you do not care about the safety and wellbeing of my Eastern European friends, family and comrades. You are happy to put my mum at risk for cheap political points you would not even be able to act on, you bastards!

  Quote

Further, you talk about how you desire to stop “NATO expansion” but you don’t really mention what, exactly, would be a viable alternative to it. This is not acceptable at all, it just shows your privilege of growing up in a country where your life story was not littered with, how exciting, tantrums and aggressions of various scales of this great, unpredictable force that assumes it can throw its way anywhere where there is no NATO. So tell me, how exactly will you assure our safety? What is this NATO alternative you are advocating for? Have you considered asking us what we think of it? Or did you just decide, as you did many times in your history, and to many other countries you felt superior towards,  that it will be you, and your leaders, who will be setting the cards on the table, and we just need to submit? Did you already take out your ruler to make straight lines on the map, except that this time it will be the map of the place where I grew up?

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  On 3/7/2022 at 5:10 PM, Satans Little Helper said:

All this discussion about Nato and US expansionism is mostly catering Putins excuses. + As far as I'm concerned, people joining in on this narrative aren't necessarily pro-russian. They're just misguided. But hey, opinion and assholes. Etc.

I hate them both equally, I'm not playing to anyones hand - again, this isn't a Marvel film.

  On 3/7/2022 at 5:15 PM, zkom said:

Here's an interesting piecet by a Polish anarchist on the whole NATO "expansionism"

Fuck leftist westplaining https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/03/04/fuck-leftist-westplaining/

 

An anarchist genuinely typed the words "how exactly will you assure our safety". They're learning.

  On 3/7/2022 at 4:59 PM, chronical said:

My cousin and me had these rough third party metal beyblade parts we got from several gas stations across southern Italy, we would've fucked you up m8

Insane levels of cap here, I knew the launch arm movements to get my shit spinning in the flower pattern. My technique was impeccable.

Currently finishing up my Environmental Sustainability course.  So on a positive note.... The entire Russian Gas & Oil monopoly is giving me plenty to talk about for the case studies.

  On 3/7/2022 at 5:15 PM, zkom said:

Here's an interesting piecet by a Polish anarchist on the whole NATO "expansionism"

Fuck leftist westplaining https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/03/04/fuck-leftist-westplaining/

 

classic anarcho-NATOism

really sad that their homeland is in such bad shape maybe they should call out NATO for funding neo Nazis

https://twitter.com/borzou/status/1500716991673421828?s=20&t=Ri_V-SsHl_tZKITO9HNnrQ

tweet embeds is being fucky

  On 3/7/2022 at 8:59 PM, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

classic anarcho-NATOism

really sad that their homeland is in such bad shape maybe they should call out NATO for funding neo Nazis

  On 3/7/2022 at 9:27 PM, ignatius said:

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still suggest a fistfight to the death with giant robots 1v1. might as well do it there

During the cold war the USA had a deal to sell wheat to the USSR

And today Europe is spending 500 million Euros per day on Russian gas

Forget about nuclear (its not going to happen) ... but the real nuclear option is actually gas. If Russia decides to stop selling us the gas, or if Europe somehow decides to stop buying it. Then we'll know the disagreement between the powers is really getting serious.

  On 3/7/2022 at 11:07 PM, zazen said:

During the cold war the USA had a deal to sell wheat to the USSR

And today Europe is spending 500 million Euros per day on Russian gas

Forget about nuclear (its not going to happen) ... but the real nuclear option is actually gas. If Russia decides to stop selling us the gas, or if Europe somehow decides to stop buying it. Then we'll know the disagreement between the powers is really getting serious.

The White House said Monday that a US delegation held weekend talks in Venezuela with the government of President Nicolas Maduro that included a discussion of energy supplies -- as Washington looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian oil.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-envoys-held-energy-talks-215159290.html

  On 3/7/2022 at 11:38 PM, ignatius said:

 

The White House said Monday that a US delegation held weekend talks in Venezuela with the government of President Nicolas Maduro that included a discussion of energy supplies -- as Washington looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian oil.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-envoys-held-energy-talks-215159290.html

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hopefully maduro tells him to shove it up his ass unless he removes all sanctions on venezuela and russia. surely they wont turn their back on russia

plus all their stolen 1 billion dollars worth of venezuelan gold given back

fucking fascists

  On 3/7/2022 at 11:38 PM, ignatius said:

 

The White House said Monday that a US delegation held weekend talks in Venezuela with the government of President Nicolas Maduro that included a discussion of energy supplies -- as Washington looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian oil.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-envoys-held-energy-talks-215159290.html

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Yeah thats something. USA bought 20 million barrels a month from Russia in 2021. Average price over that period was $70 per barrel so thats $1.4billion per month or about $47 million per day. Compared to Europes 500 million euros per day (or was more like 200 million euros per day in 2021 when prices were lower) my rough calcs come out with the USAs dependence on Russian oil/gas being about 10% to 25% of the size of Europes dependance.

nazi book burnings of leftist books in ukraine. can't read russian to confirm poster's claims about topics tho other commenters say they are random books

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1500815037589504009

68

In the 20th and 21st centuries there are 730 dates where the digits add up to 68 like that.

But so far only 3 of them have started wars.

  On 3/7/2022 at 8:59 PM, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

classic anarcho-NATOism

really sad that their homeland is in such bad shape maybe they should call out NATO for funding neo Nazis

That's what you get when you have a communist regime. It takes decades to get the country back on track.

  On 3/8/2022 at 10:30 AM, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

nazi book burnings of leftist books in ukraine. can't read russian to confirm poster's claims about topics tho other commenters say they are random books

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1500815037589504009

ok this one is complicated. obviously 'burning books' has lots of historical connotations. But in this photo the point of the books is to help the tires burn, to make a big defensive fire barrier to help hold back an invading army. They aren't burning the books because of their contents, they are burning them because theres a war going on and they need flammable material. The books look random (people zoom in in the replies). So they are old random books. Maybe they are from a damaged building and were going to rot anyway? We don't know. But we know they they are making a defensive barrer.

I thought your post about zooming in on the soldier in the getty image and finding a black sun was interesting and useful, but I think this book burning one is reaching a bit too hard.

edit: and to clarify, my own position is that Putins stated reasons for the invasion ("denazification") are obviously complete nonsense. But also, there are a tiny minority of heavily armed nazis in Ukraine that we need to keep an eye on. When the conflict does end, what the armed far-right do next might be important. We can't pretend they aren't there.

  On 3/8/2022 at 5:31 PM, zazen said:

ok this one is complicated. obviously 'burning books' has lots of historical connotations. But in this photo the point of the books is to help the tires burn, to make a big defensive fire barrier to help hold back an invading army. They aren't burning the books because of their contents, they are burning them because theres a war going on and they need flammable material. The books look random (people zoom in in the replies). So they are old random books. Maybe they are from a damaged building and were going to rot anyway? We don't know. But we know they they are making a defensive barrer.

I thought your post about zooming in on the soldier in the getty image and finding a black sun was interesting and useful, but I think this book burning one is reaching a bit too hard.

edit: and to clarify, my own position is that Putins stated reasons for the invasion ("denazification") are obviously complete nonsense. But also, there are a tiny minority of heavily armed nazis in Ukraine that we need to keep an eye on. When the conflict does end, what the armed far-right do next might be important. We can't pretend they aren't there.

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Yes, getting upset that using a bunch of what looks like decades old school books as something actually useful is pretty silly. Should I get upset also when hipsters "upcycle" old books for their photo frames or some other craft project?

Meanwhile Russia is tightening their censorship with 15 year prison terms for spreading "false news" about the situation in Ukraine.. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-introduce-jail-terms-spreading-fake-information-about-army-2022-03-04/