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

[geordief]

59 minutes ago, TheVat said:

the very ill guy in the hospital, now the aviation guy.  I know Russian architecture, especially from the Stalin era, can be very no frills, but surely they have railings and balustrades there.  And landings, in case you happen to be "careening"

Is that why Communism didn't take off in India?

Too much of a strain  picking  up the spaghettified remains from the pavement?

 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220920-how-indias-lattice-buildings-cool-without-air-con

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by geordief

[TheVat]

3 hours ago, geordief said:

Is that why Communism didn't take off in India?

Too much of a strain  picking  up the spaghettified remains from the pavement?

 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220920-how-indias-lattice-buildings-cool-without-air-con

 

Dark, but very funny!  

I like the jaali windows - a classic use of the Venturi effect.  Side note: maybe we should start a thread on LEED architecture.

[iNow]

18 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Looks like there was a bit of a rush to get out the country and avoid call up. There's few flights out now and tickets are like 2 grand if you can get one.

[Sensei]

Those who were wise fled the country on February 24..

[iNow]

9 minutes ago, Sensei said:

Those who were wise fled the country on February 24

Not everyone who wanted to was affluent enough to even have this as an option... 

[Sensei]

14 minutes ago, iNow said:

Not everyone who wanted to was affluent enough to even have this as an option... 

At least 50,000 of them were IT software engineers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_emigration_following_the_2022_invasion_of_Ukraine

"Those who have fled tend to be young and well-educated professionals, leading some economists to suggest that the Russian brain drain is worsening.[24] More than 50,000 Russian information technology specialists have left Russia.[25]"

 

"to the poor only the wind blows in their eyes"..

 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Sensei

[iNow]

18 minutes ago, Sensei said:

At least 50,000 of them were IT software engineers

Right, those who don't so easily or often fall into the "not affluent enough" category. 

[Sensei]

10 minutes ago, iNow said:

Right, those who don't so easily or often fall into the "not affluent enough" category. 

...and these are who are not so easy target for propaganda and lies..

 

[iNow]

Yep, agree with that

[J.C.MacSwell]

They seem quite willing to support the atrocities...having to take partin them with their own lives on the line...not so much...

[geordief]

14 minutes ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

They seem quite willing to support the atrocities...having to take partin them with their own lives on the line...not so much...

Would they not have to have been very brave to have openly opposed the war before this?

Russia feels like an open prison to me

A pit of despair. 

 

 

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 hour ago, geordief said:

Would they not have to have been very brave to have openly opposed the war before this?

Russia feels like an open prison to me

A pit of despair. 

 

 

Certainly. Tough doing that when you're pretty much alone doing it.

We are all wired to try to survive, and Putin and his ilk know how to exploit that. 

Hopefully the ones on the sidelines start showing up, in numbers Putin can't control.

Noteworthy though that when Ukraine was attacked many expatriates came back to help. 

 

[Sensei]

If the Russians send new soldiers (>= 300,000) to Ukraine, it's high time to close all borders, with literally everything.. forever.. destroy bridges, just in case, etc.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Sensei

[LaurieAG]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_evasion#By_country

[iNow]

Three days ago:

 

On 9/21/2022 at 3:30 AM, StringJunky said:

Putin has declared partial mobilisation; he wants 300 000 more fighting. 

 

Then this was updated last 18 days ago:

22 minutes ago, LaurieAG said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_evasion#By_country

I’d say another update to the Russia section is in order. 
 

 

* Section update needed

[StringJunky]

@iNowYes, draft-avoiding has been endemic from what I've been reading, and mostly from the far-flung areas. I've been reading the MoscowTimes, which has more local knowledge of events there, and it's saddening to read the experiences of people being drafted and trying to avoid it. They are just grabbing who they can and the draft wording is apparently deliberately vague to allow the number to be raised. Surrendering is now, or will be, punishable with 10-15 years imprisonment. That could work in Ukraine's favour in time. Now that Muscovites and those from other major cities are liable for draft, things may well start getting internally divisive for the Kremlin. I hope so.

Edited September 25, 2022 by StringJunky

[StringJunky]

A sardonically amusing piece from the Moscow Times:

Quote

In 1949 George Orwell published his last novel, “1984,” and it was translated into Russian and published in 1957 — but not in the Soviet Union. More than 30 years would pass before it was published officially in Moscow. Both the самиздат (self-published work) and bound book version were instant hits — after all, it was one of the first books to describe Soviet reality.

It was “1984” that gave the world Newspeak — in Russian called Новояз, a translation that captures the meaning and even has a whiff of the snappy abbreviations of the early Revolutionary period. A while back the linguist Maxim Krongauz wrote that новояз has developed three meanings in Russian: Orwell’s fictional language, the language of totalitarian systems, and ненормативный язык (non-normative speech) — itself a lovely example of новояз since ненормативный язык can include what we call expletives in Oldspeak.  

To that we can now add a fourth category: the language of 2022.

Let’s start with cамозащита России (Russia’s self-defense), which actually means “attacking a sovereign neighbor that has not threatened Russia or any other state.”

This was known in Oldspeak as война (war), but it is now a специальная военная операция (special military operation) or спецоперация (special op), which was meant to sound like — and meant to be — a quick in-and-out operation that would end with a new president and parades down main streets. This is also called операция по денацификации и демилитаризации Украины (an operation to deNazify and demilitarize Ukraine). Neither новояз version went well, the first because there is no new president or parades, the second because no one could find any Nazis.

But no matter. In новояз they say: всё идёт по плану (everything is going according to plan).

Another bit of новояз concerning the war is the phrase принуждение к миру (peace enforcement), which was patented, as it were, way back in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia and annexed part of its territory. Президент Дмитрий Медведев убеждён, что проведённая Россией операция по принуждению Грузии к миру была верным решением (President Dmitry Medvedev is convinced that forcing Georgia to accept peace was the right decision).

In новояз the enemies in Ukraine are called неонацисты (neo-Nazis) and нацисты (Nazis) —even if no one has seen one, captured one, or shown one on television. The enemies of the special operation in Russia are called экстремисты (extremists), even though no one has ever figured out what they are extreme about.

In this language, you don’t conquer territory, you liberate it, like an official said in July: Территорию ДНР полностью освободят от присутствия Вооружённых сил Украины до конца августа (The territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic will be completely liberated from Ukrainian Armed Forces by the end of the August). This was said by deputy of what seems like another Orwellian term, министр информации (the minister of information). The minister should have double-checked that information.

When the territory that has been liberated gets liberated back to the original residents and authorities, the Russian armed forces’ hasty retreat is called жест доброй воли (a gesture of good will). There are suddenly many good will gestures, starting with Snake Island. Представитель Министерства обороны РФ заявил, что "в качестве шага доброй воли" российский контингент покинул остров (A representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that as a “gesture of good will” the Russian contingent left the island.)

Ликвидация (liquidation), the term usually used to describe, say, closing out a company, is used now to describe death and total destruction.  Ликвидировано за сутки более двух десятков боевиков (More than 20 soldiers were liquidated in the past day). The word смерть (death) is not used. For the most part, Russian soldiers are not said to have been killed, not even with the euphemism of the Covid period — летальный исход (fatal outcome). Here’s how it is usually described: Во время чрезвычайного происшествия, повлёкшего гибель танка, солдат был объявлен пропавший без вести " (During an emergency situation — that is, an attack — which resulted in the tank being ruined — that is, completely destroyed — the soldier was listed as missing in action — that is, he was not MIA but KIA — killed in action).

During this non-war there might be an инцидент (incident), which really means some kind of major accident or natural disaster. It might be an explosion, now called хлопок (a pop) in новояз. This makes for strange official descriptions: Пострадавшие от хлопка газа жители вернутся в квартиры (The residents affected by the pop of gas — that is, gas explosion — will return to their apartments). Ночью были сильные хлопки в Белгородской области (Loud pops — that is, major explosions — could be heard at night in Belgorod oblast).

That инцидент can cause another инцидент — пожар (fire). But fire in новояз is either задымление (smoke, smokiness) or возгорание (flare up). Поступило сообщение о возгорании магазина, в результате чего повреждено потолочное перекрытие и продукция смешанных товаров на площади 72 кв м. (There was a report about a fire breaking out in a store, which resulted in damage to the ceiling and to 72 square meters of mixed merchandise).

Новояз is an important part of censorship, which is now called защита русскоговорящих и особенно русскоговорящих детей (the protection of Russian speakers and especially Russian-speaking children). People in Russia must be protected from many terrible things: провокация (provocative statements) — that is, criticism of the powers that be; фейки (fakes) — that is, any information that does not come from official Russian sources; and дискредитация российской армии (defamation of the Russian army) — that is, any criticism of the armed forces. And if the media fails to protect them properly, Роскомнадзор предупредит о мерах технологического воздействия (the Russian media watchdog organization will warn that they will take “measures of technical intervention.”) That is, they’ll block them.

And that’s today’s not-news from the not-war.

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by StringJunky

[Sensei]

 

Quote

Ликвидация (liquidation), the term usually used to describe, say, closing out a company, is used now to describe death and total destruction.

@StringJunkyUS military, politicians and media, use the word "neutralization" instead of "murder"

Edited September 27, 2022 by Sensei

[J.C.MacSwell]

2 minutes ago, Sensei said:

@StringJunkyUS military, politicians and media, use the word "neutralization" instead of "murder"

 

Murdered is a subset of those killed. Those killed are a subset of those neutralized.

[StringJunky]

13 minutes ago, Sensei said:

 

@StringJunkyUS military, politicians and media, use the word "neutralization" instead of "murder"

That's a linguistic rabbit hole we don't need to go down.

[J.C.MacSwell]

Curious who might have sabotaged the Nordstream pipelines, if in fact that was the cause:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-pressure-drops-russia-gas-pipeline-90561092

2 hours ago, StringJunky said:

That's a linguistic rabbit hole we don't need to go down.

Sure. Leave me in there all by myself...

[geordief]

3 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Curious who might have sabotaged the Nordstream pipelines, if in fact that was the cause:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-pressure-drops-russia-gas-pipeline-90561092

Sure. Leave me in there all by myself...

A Russian faction trying to force Putin's hand?

[TheVat]

It is confusing, the choice to sabotage pipelines not in use.  Why would Russia attack its own infrastructure - "out of spite" seems not a compelling explanation.  Especially when Russia could be facing a lot of debt at the war's conclusion and desperately need renewed NG revenue.  And if it's a warning to EU, it's a pretty expensive one.  I'm no engineer but would guess that seawater filling a gas pipeline is probably not real good for it.  

1 hour ago, geordief said:

A Russian faction trying to force Putin's hand?

That makes a bit more sense, but sure seems like a blunt instrument.  

[J.C.MacSwell]

Some renegade Ukrainian with an underwater drone wanting to remove any chance of Germany pressing Kiev to negotiate a settlement to end the war with unfavourable terms just so Germany gets it's gas back?

It's all I got...

Okay one more...

A Canadian entrepreneur with an underwater drone wanting more methane released to help save their North Baffin Island resort investment... 

[iNow]

Protest against conscription?