War Games: Russia Takes Ukraine, China Takes Taiwan. US Response?

[SergUpstart]

Today I heard out of the corner of my ear in the news that gasoline in California is already at 8 bucks per gallon, is Putin to blame???

5 minutes ago, geordief said:

Where in that link does it say he was banned from Ukraine?

https://time.news/ukraine-news-selenskyj-attacks-henry-kissinger-the-year-1938-is-on-the-calendar/

[zapatos]

10 minutes ago, SergUpstart said:

Today I heard out of the corner of my ear in the news that gasoline in California is already at 8 bucks per gallon, is Putin to blame???

What do you think?

[geordief]

24 minutes ago, SergUpstart said:

 

https://time.news/ukraine-news-selenskyj-attacks-henry-kissinger-the-year-1938-is-on-the-calendar/

That 3rd link  doesn't say Kissinger is banned from Ukraine  either

 

Any more links that do not back up your presumably baseless assertion?

 

Indeed have you any more presumably baseless assertions to share?

Edited May 31, 2022 by geordief

[Phi for All]

25 minutes ago, SergUpstart said:

Today I heard out of the corner of my ear in the news that gasoline in California is already at 8 bucks per gallon, is Putin to blame???

You're spreading false information about the price of gas in CA, and I think it's to cover up getting caught spreading false information about Kissinger being banned from Ukraine. Do you get paid extra for lying to educated people? Did you volunteer to scam a science discussion site, or are you being punished?

[SergUpstart]

30 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

You're spreading false information about the price of gas in CA, and I think it's to cover up getting caught spreading false information about Kissinger being banned from Ukraine. Do you get paid extra for lying to educated people? Did you volunteer to scam a science discussion site, or are you being punished?

On many Russian forums, those who write something against the current government are immediately accused of receiving money from the US State Department. It turns out that this is not only true in Russia.

And as for gasoline, not far from 8

 

53 minutes ago, geordief said:

That 3rd link  doesn't say Kissinger is banned from Ukraine  either

Here is a screenshot from "peacemaker", entering into this database automatically means a ban on entry into Ukraine.

Kissinger was declared an accomplice of Russia's crimes against Ukraine and its citizens there.

[geordief]

49 minutes ago, SergUpstart said:

Here is a screenshot from "peacemaker", entering into this database automatically means a ban on entry in Ukraine 

Oh,how does that automatic ban work?

What is  the Peacemaker?  An official organ  of the state?

 

Is Kissinger really banned or  are you making some kind of a tendentious point?

 

I get a range of prices around  5.60$ for gas in California from this website 

https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/california

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by geordief

[TheVat]

I've got $8.05 for the highest gas price, at 901 N. Alameda in LA.

The average in CA today, per AAA, is around $6.

But CA has very high gasoline taxes, and they've had prices like this since early March, as the global market started responding to the war.  Serg's photo has a mid March timestamp, in fact.

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by TheVat
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[TheVat]

https://archive.ph/8IJzp

Atlantic article (this is a PW free version) that explores the change in our awareness of our nuclear arsenals and whatever strategies they are supposedly guided by.  I like that the writer asks if the US would do better to put all that nuke maintenance money into conventional defense, and what sort of changes that would involve (aside from the obvious requirement that other nuclear powers join us in disarmament).  Here is a pull quote (which by no means sums up the article contents or would substitute for reading it):

There was a time when citizens of the United States cared about nuclear weapons. The reality of nuclear war was constantly present in their lives; nuclear conflict took on apocalyptic meaning and entered the American consciousness not only through the news and politics, but through popular culture as well. Movie audiences in 1964 laughed while watching Peter Sellers play a president and his sinister adviser in Dr. Strangelove, bumbling their way to nuclear war; a few months later, they were horrified as Henry Fonda’s fictional president ordered the sacrificial immolation of New York City in Fail-Safe. Nuclear war and its terminology—overkill, first strike, fallout—were soon constant themes in every form of entertainment. We not only knew about nuclear war; we expected one.

But during the Cold War there was also thoughtful engagement with the nuclear threat. Academics, politicians, and activists argued on television and in op-ed pages about whether we were safer with more or fewer nuclear weapons. The media presented analyses of complicated issues relating to nuclear weapons. CBS, for example, broadcast an unprecedented five-part documentary series on national defense in 1981. When ABC, in 1983, aired the movie The Day After—about the consequences of a global nuclear war for a small town in Kansas—it did so as much to perform a public service as to achieve a ratings bonanza. Even President Ronald Reagan watched the movie. (In his diary, he noted that The Day After was “very effective” and had left him “greatly depressed.”)

[Alex_Krycek]

Interesting report from David Pakman about Putin having Cancer.  This has supposedly been verified by three independent sources.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD9-z-RZto8

[TheVat]

https://www.politico.eu/article/backpain-cancer-and-covid-vladimir-putin-top-health-scares-throughout-the-years/

Looks at Putin's history through health rumors and conjectures.

(Sorry, not a video person)

In this article intelligence experts dispute the rumors of ill health as wishful thinking.

https://www.businessinsider.com/no-credible-evidence-putin-is-ill-despite-appearance-anger-in-public-experts-2022-5

In this article, doctors explain why they cannot diagnose people who they haven't examined....

https://www.dw.com/en/putin-and-parkinsons-what-experts-say-about-his-health/a-61597476

[J.C.MacSwell]

11 hours ago, Alex_Krycek said:

Interesting report from David Pakman about Putin having Cancer.  This has supposedly been verified by three independent sources.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD9-z-RZto8

Never thought I'd say this...but Go cancer Go!

[StringJunky]

It seems to me like the Kremlin is anticipating and insuring itself against possible public disorder caused by their aggression in Ukraine, if/when the truth of it activities starts to seep into it's blinded populace and they start to react against it:

Quote

Russia’s Interior Ministry has created a new department to help enforce martial law, the country’s state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday.

The Main Directorate of Rapid Response will also coordinate ministry forces if a state of emergency or a counter-terrorism operation is declared in the country.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new measures reflected “current demands,” while Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said the department would help “strengthen” the ministry’s forces.

The new department will also be charged with protecting Interior Ministry buildings, including against terrorist attacks, as well as organizing civil defense activities. It will also deal with reports on crime and administrative offenses.

Moscow has repeatedly said that is not planning to declare martial law in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Under Russia’s legislation, martial law would see military rule temporarily substitute civilian law, allowing civil liberties such as the right to free movement or freedom of speech to be temporarily suspended. - Moscow Times

 

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by StringJunky

[iNow]

Many already react against it but get hurt or taken away when they do. 

It’s the starvation the loss of Ukrainian wheat and related crops that will hurt the millions, especially in this super hot super dry summer season we’re entering. Also about 70% of the neon we use in electronics manufacturing comes from there. Es no bueno.

Starving people need food and thirsty people need water, not martial law imposed by autocrats and blind soldiers enforcing it. 

[MigL]

2 hours ago, iNow said:

Also about 70% of the neon we use in electronics manufacturing comes from there. Es no bueno.

As far as I know, Neon, being a noble gas, is unsuitable for manufacturing or doping  electronics/semiconductors.
It is however, one of the noble gases used in the lasers that provide the UV lithography for masking/etching semiconductor layers.
Hablas Espanol tambien ?

[StringJunky]

3 hours ago, iNow said:

Many already react against it but get hurt or taken away when they do. 

It’s the starvation the loss of Ukrainian wheat and related crops that will hurt the millions, especially in this super hot super dry summer season we’re entering. Also about 70% of the neon we use in electronics manufacturing comes from there. Es no bueno.

Starving people need food and thirsty people need water, not martial law imposed by autocrats and blind soldiers enforcing it. 

Sorry, I meant domestically in Russia. The  Russian population will be kicking off. 

[iNow]

13 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Sorry, I meant domestically in Russia. The  Russian population will be kicking off. 

No, I know. I more meant they won’t be the only common people rising up against those in power. Of all this mess in current form, it’s the certain global starvation and drought issues coming as a direct result of this illegal occupation that concern me most. 

25 minutes ago, MigL said:

Hablas Espanol tambien ?

Poquito. Gravemente

[StringJunky]

33 minutes ago, iNow said:

No, I know. I more meant they won’t be the only common people rising up against those in power. Of all this mess in current form, it’s the certain global starvation and drought issues coming as a direct result of this illegal occupation that concern me most. 

Poquito. Gravemente

Ah right, OK. Do you think the increasing detrimental effects on the rest of the world and domestic discontent caused by high prices etc will eventually catalyse our direct military involvement in this war? It's looking like our electric bills will be up about 100% by the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year, as an example.

Edited June 9, 2022 by StringJunky

[iNow]

4 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Do you think the increasing detrimental effects on the rest of the world and domestic discontent caused by high prices etc will eventually catalyse our direct military involvement in this war?

Likelier than I’d like, but it’s military involvement on domestic soils across multiple nations that seem the more near term possibility, IMO.

[StringJunky]

Just now, iNow said:

Likelier than I’d like, but it’s military involvement on domestic soils across multiple nations that seem the more near term possibility, IMO.

If that's the case, it would make more sense to directly intervene sooner than later. Perhaps it might be the lesser of two evils. I'd hate to see us get in a mess and then be forced anyway to get directly involved. I think  Putin is fighting an existential battle  now because he will likely  be finished if he fails.

[iNow]

17 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

If that's the case, it would make more sense to directly intervene sooner than later. Perhaps it might be the lesser of two evils.

Maybe. Maybe not.

These events also don’t occur in a vacuum. Downstream consequences come with any choice. Like China could open a parallel front with Taiwan while our forces are deployed elsewhere pushing back on Russia. North Korea could open a front against their southern neighbors or Japan. Iran could lob missiles into Israel, or ad infinitum. 

These are the decisions with which leaders find themselves grappling the world over.

Edited June 9, 2022 by iNow

[StringJunky]

2 minutes ago, iNow said:

Maybe. Maybe not. These are the decisions with which leaders find themselves grappling the world over. These events also don’t occur in a vacuum. Dow stream consequences come with any choice. Like China could open a parallel front with Taiwan while our forces are deployed elsewhere pushing back on Russia. North Korea could open a front against their southern neighbors or Japan. Iran could lob missiles into Israel, or ad infinitum. 

I don't think Kim has expansionist aspirations. I think his issue is just an existential one for the continuity of his family dynasty. His isolation feeds his paranoia. Militarily, Russia's forces are depleting and it probably wouldn't require all of NATO's resources to deal with them, some of which can be directed to contain China.

[StringJunky]

@iNowWhat I was saying earlier about Russian's depleting resources:

Quote

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JUNE 9

Russian forces are continuing to deploy outdated military equipment to Ukraine to replace losses. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on June 9 that Russian forces are mining Kherson Oblast with mines from the 1950s to defend against recent Ukrainian counterattacks in northwestern Kherson Oblast. The GUR stated that Russian forces moved these mines from Russia’s Rostov Oblast to the Kherson area despite the fact the mines were meant to be destroyed. The GUR claimed that some of the mines detonated during the transportation processes and killed Russian sappers from the 49th Combined Arms Army. The GUR’s report is consistent with previous statements that Russian forces are moving old and obsolete equipment to Ukraine to make up for equipment losses, including deploying T-62 tanks to the Melitopol area and pulling MLRS and 152mm howitzers from storage in Irkutsk, Siberia.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-9

 

[iNow]

Russia is making steady progress grabbing more control of the east and causing Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw and then there’s this:

Russian missiles hit an apartment block and kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv today.

Edited June 26, 2022 by iNow

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Russia is making steady progress grabbing more control of the east and causing Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw and then there’s this:

Russian missiles hit an apartment block and kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv today.

The Russians for all their gains will have long term internal resistance from guerrillas to deal with. A Russian-installed city leader was blown up in their car a few days ago.

[J.C.MacSwell]

At some point terrorist attacks might come to Russia itself. Hate begets hate.