Politics

Corbyn interview didn't go to plan LOL. It went exactly to plan. News directors don't schedule interviews with people without knowing exactly what they are going to say. In this case the "interview" was on RT News ie one of the Kremlin's main propaganda organs. Piers Corbyn may have done a masters in Astrophysics, but he has never been regarded as a scientist. He is the brother of former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. He has even stood for election in the UK as a member of the Trotshyist International Marxist Group.

If RT News, and their army of Western social media influencers, are giing him coverage, then its just another part of the effort to weaken the West by creating division and distrust. Seems to be working better than their military.
 
What the Russian media/ certain state sponsored writers on Telegram claim does not necessarily represent the views of the average Russian. People there tend to have a fairly strong skepticism towards what the government/media say. As evident by the mass desertions and refusals to fight. Contrast this to America where the public has a tendency to gulp up whatever the media/politicians say. The reaction of the American public to the invasion of Iraq is a good example.

There were also some Russians who welcomed the Nazis. This fellow was a particularly unsavory character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Vlasov

Two things to note about the Holdomor. First of all Stalin or the Soviet Union does not equate Russia. Stalin was actually a Georgian. Khrushchev and Brezhnev, for example, were ethnic Ukrainians. Soviet=Soviet, Soviet does not equal Russia/Russian. This is what some African countries who support Russia in this current war get wrong when they view Russia as being synonymous to their Cold War Soviet ally.They forget that during the Cold War Ukraine was also their Soviet ally. But I digress. The starvation/murder of wealthy peasants also happened in southern Russia. The Soviet famine of 1930-33 hit all grain producing areas especially those with wealthy peasants pretty hard:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_famine_of_1930–1933#:~:text=The Soviet famine of 1930,to have lost their lives.

Ukrainians were not the victims of this because of their ethnicity. People of many different Soviet ethnicity perished during this famine. This is part of the reason why many Soviet people, including ethnic Russians, initially welcomed the Nazis. This was not just limited to Ukrainians

However it would also be wrong to say that this was the only reason why these people welcomed the Nazis. Anti-=semitism was probably a strong motivator as well. The only problem was that the Nazis considered East Slavs to be "sub-humans" or "untermensch" as well.

I must say I find the bolded part almost impossible to believe. I assume by Siberia you mean the territories of the Russian federation east of the Urals? Because in Russian and in English terminology Siberia has somewhat different meanings. What English speakers call "Siberia" can actually be divided into the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. But once again I digress. Slavs/Russians account for about 85% of the population living in "Siberia" or east of the Urals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Siberia

So I would be extremely shocked that the majority of "Siberians" in the Russian army are indigenous Siberians. As they make up a minority of Siberia's population. Siberians, regardless of ethnic group, are probably sent to the front lines as they are seen as being the most "expendable". Due to the fact that they may come from remote regions and are often from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.



As of mid-July 2022 approximately 5000 Ukrainian civilians were killed: https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/07/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-12-july-2022

This probably represents an underestimate but nonetheless it probably gives a good general picture/idea. Now lets look at the Iraq War. A conservative estimate is that around 200,000 civilians were killed https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/. Although this likely represents an underestimate as Lancet puts the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at over 500,000. Coalition forces directly killed about 35-40% of those civilians. Now unlike the Russian army, which uses "dumb", in some instance WWII era munitions, the US army has access to much "smarter" and more precise munitions. This is not surprising since the US spends 10x more on defense than Russia does. I also assume the American defence industry and military is less corrupt than the Russian one. Yet the amount of civilians that were killed in Iraq is quite high. Would you say the US showed a blatant disregard for Iraqi lives as well ??
I think we would both enjoy this discussion verbally much more so than trying to trade written missives.

With respect to what the Russian people "believe," I am not sure it is actually all that important. I am hardly the first to suggest much Russian culture is formed around the notion of obedience - or perhaps the more colloquial notion of simply "getting by." That has much less to do with the effects of propaganda and far more to do with the weight of history. Anton Barbashin was highlighting a recent poll where 68% would support a decision to halt the "special military operation" and 60% would support an all out effort to take Kyiv. His conclusion was that the population has no idea what is going on. I think that is wrong. I believe the poll simply reflects that the population generally will publicly support "authority" whatever decisions are being made.

After all, Yeltsin had Western media polled "approval ratings" in Russia that would make Biden look beloved. Yet he was in no meaningful way hindered in his exercise of power or even winning elections. I would attribute that seeming contradiction to Russian history and its effect on modern cultural norms. I should also add such history induced cultural norms are prevalent in all societies. In the US we can point to our obsession with race or the importance of "self defense" as a component of personal safety.

Yes, all grain production regions of the former Soviet Union were affected by Stalin's suppression of the Kulaks. However, those decisions were made in Moscow, and regardless of the ethnicity of the dictator, those decisions affected only part of the Soviet Union but were disastrous for essentially all of Ukraine. I know no serious historian who doesn't believe those millions of deaths were a major element in the Ukrainian people's initial reaction to the German invasion.

I will absolutely concede that as the true scope of German conquest became apparent Ukrainians flocked to the Soviet colors to defend and reconquer their homeland. But that hardly reflects a love for Russians - a conclusion that was underscored dramatically December 1st 1991.

You are correct, I was imprecise in my wording of the geographic accessions of the Russian military. It is more accurate to say that other than some members of the officer corps, the vast majority of contract soldiers come from areas of Russia other than the 12th century heartland now dominated by St. Petersburg and Moscow. Indeed, I would argue Russia is the world's last colonial power, and its "colonies" are providing the canon fodder for this campaign. I believe that too has a major effect on support for the war.

For instance, during the Afghanistan occupation, Soviet draftees were proportionally inducted from all regions of the country. Therefore, the largest numbers of inductees came from Great Russia. Correspondingly, so then did the largest number of casualties. That casualty rate among the Soviet Union's most privileged region was unsustainable, contributing to the decision to withdraw. The Russian Army in Ukraine is primarily composed of contract soldiers from Russia's poorest regions. Those casualties, regardless of their ethnicity, have far less impact on the population of the most developed region of country. Though, even now, the Russian government is extremely careful not to release any meaningful data. And I suspect the losses among the conscripted ethnic Russians of the Donbass, who are paying a terrible price for their loyalty to Moscow, will never be known.

With respect to Iraqi casualties, I simply will say that there is a lot of debate about those numbers. Particularly with respect to what constitutes a "civilian." I am certain that the US consciously puts far more restrictions on its forces with respect to rules of engagement than any other modern military. The GLMRS missile being used so effectively by Ukraine in the HIMARS is a result of a decision to do away with the extraordinarily effective sub-munition warhead that I employed in the first Gulf War because it lessens the chance of collateral damage. JDAMs and other precision munitions are further efforts to reduce such casualties and destruction. Not that it would make much of a difference in a true strategic exchange, but even our nuclear payloads are significantly smaller but far more accurate than our potential enemies. However, as the regrettable UAV strike in Kabul that killed ten members of one family demonstrated, terrible mistakes can be made with weapons of extraordinary accuracy.

However, I suppose Russia can try to make a virtue of lack of pretense with respect to flattening cities.
 
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New Trafalgar poll. They have been the most accurate over the last few cycles. If this holds through election day and Republicans turn out, the Dems will get a shellacking and I will feel a lot better about the senate.

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A conservative estimate is that around 200,000 civilians were killed https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/. Although this likely represents an underestimate as Lancet puts the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at over 500,000.

Iraqi having sexual relation with goat = Civilian
Iraqi having sexual relation with goat while shouldering an RPG = Not Civilian

After the sniper spares the goat, both the goat and RPG get stolen. Making civilian/combatant identification impossible after the fact.

These two were just civilians? Or were their RPG's laying on the ground out of sight?
In my opinion, even if civilians, people raping a donkey deserve to be shot.
 
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A good friend of mine (Army), took out a bad guy abusing a donkey. (y)
 
New Trafalgar poll. They have been the most accurate over the last few cycles. If this holds through election day and Republicans turn out, the Dems will get a shellacking and I will feel a lot better about the senate.

View attachment 489291

And with inflation still ugly I don't see that changing much. Gas may have dropped back, but not much else has.
 
New Trafalgar poll. They have been the most accurate over the last few cycles. If this holds through election day and Republicans turn out, the Dems will get a shellacking and I will feel a lot better about the senate.

View attachment 489291

Let’s hope this holds, and cross our fingers for a rainy cold day on the day of the midterms.
 
With regard to the election: If both houses became majority Republican, how many Biden policies could be changed? Could the policies regarding permitting of drilling in oil leases, pipeline approval and such be changed or are these under presidential control?
 
With regard to the election: If both houses became majority Republican, how many Biden policies could be changed? Could the policies regarding permitting of drilling in oil leases, pipeline approval and such be changed or are these under presidential control?
Using history as a lead indicator. What did republicans try to change under Obama when they won landslide victories in the House/Senate 2010 & 2014? Sadly, nothing. They just got a bigger part of the corruption pie. They got rich and we got the 'change' in our pockets.
 
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A significant portion went to China.

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This is a general question to the Canadians here. What is your general impression of Poilievre? I have heard him in an hour interview a couple months ago and he seems like a refreshing bit of common sense.

Does Poilievre have the ability to form a decent government at some point or is he just more of the same in the Conservative party?

Thanks.
 
This is a general question to the Canadians here. What is your general impression of Poilievre? I have heard him in an hour interview a couple months ago and he seems like a refreshing bit of common sense.

Does Poilievre have the ability to form a decent government at some point or is he just more of the same in the Conservative party?

Thanks.
He's certainly presenting himself in a different way.

My thoughts on political leadership is that the last true leader - someone with a vision or design - was Pierre Elliott Trudeau. I am not saying he was right, I am just saying no one since then has done much in the way of actual design leadership. It has all been a "put money in, take money out" dance. But Trudeau Senior defined the way the provinces and feds related to each other.

Except Quebec, they have always been staunchly protective of their provincial jurisdiction. The rest just went hat in hand and PET vision for Canada continued to develop in that way in an unabated fashion.

Poilievre is the first leader I have seen that has a different concept of how Canada should function. I am anticipating a leader who will take steps to redefine the Canadian political landscape. It will make for turbulent social times if he is the person I perceive him to be.

He certainly reflects a growing discontent with the way things have gone since the mid 1980's.
 
Personally I think he would make a great Prime Minister. Very intelligent and well spoken. Smart on economics. Strong on building Canada and it's citizens. Common sense approach to fossil fuels. Against gun control that only effects legal gun owners. Promotes building Canadian companies vs Chi Com crap. Would be respected by other Countries as a leader. Major problem is Canada has become such a Socialist Country it will be hard for him to promote hard work vs handouts. I don't know what socks he wears which was apparently very important the 1st time Turdo got elected!
 
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Using history as a lead indicator. What did republicans try to change under Obama when they won landslide victories in the House/Senate 2010 & 2014? Sadly, nothing. They just got a bigger part of the corruption pie. They got rich and we got the 'change' in our pockets.
Yep, Trump upset both the Demorats and mainstream Republicans corrupted apple cart. He couldn't be bought and they didn't like that. Under Obama and Brandon, it was/is shady/corrupt business as usual.
 

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