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Is This 1936 All Over Again?


IUFLA

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1 minute ago, mrflynn03 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Putin marches all the way to Berlin and reestablishes the old Iron curtain. Who in Europe is capable of stopping him?

Russia doesn't realistically have that capability.  Not in a military capacity, not in a political capacity, and not in a financial capacity.

Invading and occupying Ukraine alone may do Putin and Russia in over the long haul, much less trying to take areas of the EU.

If he extends past taking just Ukraine, it's much more likely to be Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

I think the most likely outcome of this is that Russia "wins" this war in the next few days, installs a puppet government, and then withdraws the bulk of their military, leaving the puppet government to fight the insurgency while quietly supporting the puppet government with weapons and supplies.  

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2 hours ago, IUFLA said:

Hopefully, this galvanizes our country and makes us put aside the petty differences that have driven us apart...I think the vast majority of Americans understand what's at stake here...

“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.”

Well....I hope you're right.  But some have used the term genius when talking about what Putin is doing, so you have to wonder.  And some have taken this moment as an opportunity to criticize for political gain.  

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Short leash on this thread and we'll skip straight to issuing warnings for offending posts.  If you are questioning if you should post something, you probably shouldn't.

This is one of the most consequential moments in Europe in decades, so we want to allow people to talk about it.  Let's all avoid the urge to channel our worst demons ;).  Try to keep posts factual and information-based.  Avoid memes and jokes, which usually revert to political humor.

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12 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

I’ve known my Russian friend for twenty years and in that time we never talked politics. Now we are talking even though there is almost assuredly listener’s. They, her and her Ukrainian mother are just as confused and concerned as we are!

Just giving you a different point of view.

The Russians I know do not support this. They are just as horrified as the rest of us - maybe more.

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9 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

Yes, let’s not get into another round of hate crimes like the ones going on against Asian’s. The Russian people are not for this!

Am glad you said this. Russians can’t help that their leader is a complete dirtbag. It’s not like they can actually vote him out of office. They just have to wait for him to die or be taken out of his misery. 

And I have a new employee (twenty-something Asian girl just out of college) who just moved to the city. We started talking about neighborhoods and safety, and it was truly heartbreaking to hear her share her fears. What a world we live in. 

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11 minutes ago, Lostin76 said:

Am glad you said this. Russians can’t help that their leader is a complete dirtbag. It’s not like they can actually vote him out of office. They just have to wait for him to die or be taken out of his misery. 

And I have a new employee (twenty-something Asian girl just out of college) who just moved to the city. We started talking about neighborhoods and safety, and it was truly heartbreaking to hear her share her fears. What a world we live in. 

I’m marrying an Asian. In Chicago we deal w that daily. Chicago is becoming a dump. 

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1 minute ago, Drroogh said:

In an old thread posted somewhere I posted that if Russia and America could become friends like I have with so many Russians, the world would shake! I don’t know if it was you @rogue3542 but someone posted that is what this song is about! Thanks!

I don't remember, but it could have been me.  Back when I was a high school English teacher, I would have my classes listen to a song at the beginning of class every Friday, and then we would take a few minutes discussing the lyrics.  I also let them nominate and vote on what the next song would be (within reason of course), but I always set aside a few weeks to pick some myself.  I had several on rotation, but I always made sure to play this and "Born in the USA."  I'd usually try to work in "War Pigs" as well.

All are excellent examples of songs that have their lyrics overlooked.  In the case of Crazy Train, the song makes the case that people growing up during the Cold War, both American and Russian/Soviet, were taught to hate each other simply because they were the "enemy," when in reality it's the governments that are the problem, not the people.

It's a tragedy in some ways, because generally, nobody ever really thinks about it; we usually only hear the first 30 seconds or a snippet of "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train."  I think most people think it's about a person going literally mentally crazy (given the stage character that Ozzy is, it's not hard to fathom why), when the crazy train is really a metaphor for the ride of hate we all get taken on daily through propaganda.

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https://thehill.com/policy/international/595728-ukrainian-ambassador-says-russian-platoon-surrendered-to-ukrainian

The implication from the Ukrainian Ambassador is that at least one Russian unit surrendered to the Ukrainians because they did not know they were sent to kill Ukrainians.

Hard to parse whether true, though I'm not apt to believe that the ambassador is going to fabricate this kind of thing.

If true, I wonder how many Russian soldiers really have a stomach for this war.  It's not looking like there's much support at all for this war in Russia.

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1 hour ago, HoosierFaithful said:

Short leash on this thread and we'll skip straight to issuing warnings for offending posts.  If you are questioning if you should post something, you probably shouldn't.

This is one of the most consequential moments in Europe in decades, so we want to allow people to talk about it.  Let's all avoid the urge to channel our worst demons ;).  Try to keep posts factual and information-based.  Avoid memes and jokes, which usually revert to political humor.

This is not a EUROPE problem.  This is a WORLD problem.  

I have a non-political opinion that this has already crossed a dangerous, dangerous, dangerous line.  And, that is my opinion regardless of what my political beliefs are.  

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12 minutes ago, rogue3542 said:

I don't remember, but it could have been me.  Back when I was a high school English teacher, I would have my classes listen to a song at the beginning of class every Friday, and then we would take a few minutes discussing the lyrics.  I also let them nominate and vote on what the next song would be (within reason of course), but I always set aside a few weeks to pick some myself.  I had several on rotation, but I always made sure to play this and "Born in the USA."  I'd usually try to work in "War Pigs" as well.

All are excellent examples of songs that have their lyrics overlooked.  In the case of Crazy Train, the song makes the case that people growing up during the Cold War, both American and Russian/Soviet, were taught to hate each other simply because they were the "enemy," when in reality it's the governments that are the problem, not the people.

It's a tragedy in some ways, because generally, nobody ever really thinks about it; we usually only hear the first 30 seconds or a snippet of "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train."  I think most people think it's about a person going literally mentally crazy (given the stage character that Ozzy is, it's not hard to fathom why), when the crazy train is really a metaphor for the ride of hate we all get taken on daily through propaganda.

Love that you used War Pigs and Born in the USA. Always cracks me up when certain politicians use Born in the USA at their rallies, and I’m thinking “I don’t think this song means what you think it means.” CCR‘S “Fortunate Son” is another one. Like, “Dude, have you listened to these lyrics?”

4 minutes ago, rogue3542 said:

https://thehill.com/policy/international/595728-ukrainian-ambassador-says-russian-platoon-surrendered-to-ukrainian

The implication from the Ukrainian Ambassador is that at least one Russian unit surrendered to the Ukrainians because they did not know they were sent to kill Ukrainians.

Hard to parse whether true, though I'm not apt to believe that the ambassador is going to fabricate this kind of thing.

If true, I wonder how many Russian soldiers really have a stomach for this war.  It's not looking like there's much support at all for this war in Russia.

I keep waiting for confirmation of this, b/c it would be huge. 

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8 minutes ago, rogue3542 said:

https://thehill.com/policy/international/595728-ukrainian-ambassador-says-russian-platoon-surrendered-to-ukrainian

The implication from the Ukrainian Ambassador is that at least one Russian unit surrendered to the Ukrainians because they did not know they were sent to kill Ukrainians.

Hard to parse whether true, though I'm not apt to believe that the ambassador is going to fabricate this kind of thing.

If true, I wonder how many Russian soldiers really have a stomach for this war.  It's not looking like there's much support at all for this war in Russia.

I’m biting my tongue on this one. Once again if anyone would like my opinion please PM me. I don’t want this thread taken down! This is to important to not discuss!

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1 hour ago, jv1972iu said:

Well....I hope you're right.  But some have used the term genius when talking about what Putin is doing, so you have to wonder.  And some have taken this moment as an opportunity to criticize for political gain.  

Happens on both sides...

But if we can't cast aside our differences with less than 50 people on a message board, we're not getting 350 million on the same page...

And if we can't, then your politics won't matter...

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Just read this-

"Ukraine turns Putin’s neo-Tsarist empire into the Saudi Arabia of food, controlling 30pc of global wheat exports and 20pc of corn exports. (…)

Russia is sitting on $635bn of foreign exchange reserves. It has a national debt of 18pc of GDP, one of the lowest in the world. It has a fiscal surplus and does not rely heavily on foreign investors to finance the state. This renders US sanctions against new issuance of sovereign bonds a mere nuisance"

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