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Wade

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Posts posted by Wade

  1. 11 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Red lines and boundaries are important where nukes are involved. Russia, as the weaker conventional power who also is also the “instigator” can be expected to resist clarifying what those lines are.  They know once that happens, we will walk right up to them.

    So what we are doing is helping set the red lines for him and thereby reducing the risk of miscalculation. In effect- “if we were you, we’d consider troops on the ground or imposition of no-fly to be unacceptably hostile and deserving of full-scale war with us.” 
     

    Unsaid— so long as we’re not doing that and are below that threshold, we don’t think you should get an itchy trigger finger.  So chill the fuck out and don’t try to bluff us into believing you’re ready to suicide bomb.

    If you won’t set out the “rules” then we will do it for you.

    Deterrence theory is a bitch when it’s no longer just in a book from 1985. 

    Excellent post.  I grew up during some of the coldest years of the cold war.  Great care was taken in signaling intent of moves that would in any way impact the Soviets so that nothing would be misconstrued and caused escalation of tensions.  As cold as all those years were, I don't remember any time as dangerous as this particular time and situation.

    • Like 2
  2. 1 minute ago, SL Xpress said:

    But that's not how it works.

    If there's anything I'd emphasize, it's that Putin is not the only danger. Putin represents a type of personality who craves power and seeks it out relentlessly and ambitiously. Those people gain power in all kinds of stations in life, so you're never going to eliminate it, nor would you want to necessarily. It's a trait that can be socialized through external curbs on their behavior. When there are no curbs, or the curbs are insufficient, then you get the Stalins, the Maos, the HItlers, etc.. 

    It's dangerous to make Putin feel cornered, but it's just as dangerous to make him feel like he faces limited opposition. What is most dangerous is creating situations where he's rewarded for his aggression. 

    First, let me apologize by "shitpost".  I thought you were fucking with the OP.

    Second, I am normally aligned with your way of thinking, but this is a very unique situation, and I think it requires much more nuanced responses than we've been doing.

    At any rate, the world has come together to condemn Putin and Russia here in impactful ways (even if they haven't impacted quite yet).  In fact, I might argue the opposite position here.  I'm wondering if this global unified response to Putin has made Xi rethink his Taiwan ambitions.

  3. Just now, SL Xpress said:

     

    And another day it's still going to be bloody and end the same way. 

    Shit should have been nipped in the bud in 2014. It wasn't. 

    If you allow naked aggression to be rewarded, shockingly enough, it incentivizes naked aggression. There are lessons that have been learned over the past decade. Do everything in your power to acquire nuclear weapons and don't give them up for anything. If you're an authoritarian ruler and you have a sizable protest going on in your country, annihilate the protests with complete and utter ruthlessness, or you're going to be executed or imprisoned for life. Take over desirable areas with impunity, weather any token sanctions, then continue on business as usual. 

    These qualities are embedded in the human race. The only thing that curbs them are external factors. If there isn't a price exacted for naked aggression, other people inclined towards naked aggression will pursue it. 

    Peace at any cost helps to create a world ruled by oppression. Back down now, and you simply enable the qualities that are causing you to back down. I'm not saying there are any easy solutions. But there is no doubt what kind of path appeasing Putin will lead to. If not with Putin because he keels over, then the next guy, whether Russian or from somewhere else.

    This situation is not akin to Chamberlain appeasing the dictator of a rising world power with global ambitions.  Russia is a decaying country with an economy that can't compete in this century.  It's conventional military is being used up in this endeavor.  Those who prognasticate that this is just the start of his military endeavors have no clue.  He has nothing to extend beyond this.

    What he does have are nukes.  What he also has is an attitude of, "if I'm going down I'm taking the West with me" (his foreign minister threatens nuclear war multiple times a day).

    When you have a madman like that in a situation like this, you appease him his victory in Ukraine.  Then you work quietly to get him out of power without implicating yourself.

    • Like 2
  4. 38 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

    So then disarm and submit to Russian rule, for now. It’s better than everyone dying. This is how WWI started. 

    Buzzrock has been spot on this whole time.  No matter how long they hold out and how bloody it gets, it's going to end the same way.  Take the long view, live to fight another day.  Keep fucking around and this shit will get out of control.  It will get out of control and we will all die.

    • Like 2
  5. 24 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

    We take out Putin and then contact the rest of the government and tell each person.: “You have x,y,x timeframe  to get out of Ukraine. If you do kit start pulling out within that timeframe we will kill each member of the government every hour that you delay. We will kill you. And your family every hour until you comply. Do you understand? 

    image.jpeg.e07d73664d2f48c458c81aa6a674f207.jpeg

    • Haha 2
  6. 7 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

    Just snap a finger? Wave a magic wand? You think those jobs pay well? Frankly, I agree with you to a certain extent, but it's not exactly something that can be readily implemented in a market based economy. We've hollowed ourselves out as a country since the 80s. Supply chains take an extraordinary amount of effort and capital to set up. We're not geared for that. Our investment structure at this juncture is geared towards looking for the home run by financing 1000s of startups. Or else participating in arbitrage activity on various levels with a variety of financial instruments. None of that speaks well to what your prescribing.

    Good post.  Regards to supply chains, Covid was a huge wakeup call on the current vulnerabilities, so we've been thinking about this for two years already.  It will be a slow process, but a lot of that key stuff (chips, pharmaceuticals, etc.) will be coming home.  Some of it has begun already

    • Hook 'Em 6
  7. Four teams remaining, wiki says there are three legs remaining.  So, unless the show has changed the final episode to be final 2 vs. final 3, tonight will be a non-elimination leg.  Is it possible dad and daughter could come in last four times and still make the final???

  8. Family got caught up on the episodes and I watched with them for the second time.  I didn't realize how awful the father-daughter team is the first go-around.  It's going to be a travesty if they somehow pull out a win.

    Also, Sherry and Akbar were comedy gold.  I hope they get invited back.

    S: "Hey, I climbed that mountain"

    A: "Congratulations"

  9. 10 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

    No, I hadn't.  Good thing AD bulled Spain then,

    spacer.png

    Nice find.  What makes that extra painful for Bengals fans is Burrow didn't even need to fire an accurate pass.  There is no one within twenty yards of this dude.  A duck would have done the trick.

  10. 41 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

    That's a pretty big leap where one second is the difference between a sack and a walk in TD.  

     

    Not sure if you've seen it but there is a pic out there of Ramsey on the ground again, and the WR free as a bird, just as Barrow was desperately dumping the ball.

  11. 9 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

    That's accurate.  He also had no money because he's an NFL poor.

    Here's what I don't understand about these legacy owners.  By a gift of the birth lottery, they own an NFL team.  Why hold on to it at this point?  Yeah, I know there's some civic pride and it's a trophy but you could get $2B-$4B for a garden variety NFL team at this point.  Take the money like the Broncos ownership is doing.  

    Wonder if there's a correlation between legacy owners and lack of success.  Know the McCaskeys have been a pox on the city of Chicago for decades.  That '85 team partially covered up their five decade long ineptitude.  Now, there threatening to move to suburbs.

  12. 26 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

    The conspiracy bullshit that the refs were part of some grand scheme to get fan buy-in is asinine.  The defensive hold was blatant.  It was the right call and was not made at the behest of the league.

     

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Haha 1
  13. 35 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said:


    You should check your history. St Louis is a shithole that was able to entice the then owner of the Rams out of Anaheim. They needed to go back when STL couldn’t help with a new stadium. They belong in LA. The Raiduhs should be sharing that stadium and the league should have stripped the Spanos family of the Chargers and kept them in San Diego. The league wanted the Rams back in LA and facilitated it.

    As for your opinions regarding Stafford’s wife and kids, you’re a bit in the weeds.

    The Rams were popular in LA in the 60s-70s.  By the 80s, the Lakers dominated the LA sports scene, with the Dodgers always firmly entrenched in LA, and the Rams were relegated to Anaheim, where they played to empty stadium game after game.

    It perplexed the hell out of the NFL that they could not get LA to clamor and pay up to get a NFL franchise over those 20 years that they had none.  Worst kept secret, the fans could not give a fuck about a NFL home team.  Enter the traitor Kroenke.  Current owner of Jaguars, a U of I alum wanted to buy the Rams and keep in StL.  Traitor Kroenke, whose fortune came from marrying into Walmart royalty, had ROFR and exercised it, also promising to keep the team in the town of his birth.

    Of course, it was all bullshit and a carefully laid out plan with Jerry Johnson and the NFL screwed the City of StL and got the Rams back to LA.  For his trouble, Kroenke got to lay out $5.5B for the new stadium as well as some substantial portion of the $780M settlement the team did with StL, so as not to expose the deceit and duplicity in which they made the move.

    At any rate, given all that occurred and what Kroenke put on the line to get a team back in LA, you are naive if you think that Super Bowl wasn't nudged to his team the last couple minutes.

    It's all a desperate attempt to get the LA fans to give a fuck about the Rams.  Hell, they were out-attended by SF in the last game of the season.

    Like someone else pointed out, the future doesn't look bright for the franchise.  They mortgaged the future for this title and still needed the officials' help to seal the deal.

  14. 21 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

    Agreed.  She definitely didn't know.  

    So, she just asks this dude to pick up and pay for the laundry of ten of his company mates, believing they're all fine?  Keep in mind she's experienced the war for over four years at that point.  She knows what it means when men don't come back for their things.

  15. 21 hours ago, davidg said:


    Probably leaves all the lights on too, amirite?

    Our master shower is lit by a CFL bulb, in a recessed ceiling light fixture with a glass cover.  Wife is convinced that the heat emitted by leaving the light on 24/7 helps dry the shower and avoid mold growth.  I've tried to explain to her a thousand times how stupid that is, but she won't buy it.  I've given  up

    • Haha 1
  16. 8 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

    Yeah, that was the very end of Carentan.  I posted before I had gotten to that part.  Very heavy.  I love how he corrects her at first for calling him Private instead of his promoted rank (Sergeant?), but then lets it go when she does it again after he realizes what is happening.

    That's always been a powerful scene to me, as she knows what she's doing, and he knows what she's doing.  But you can't really come down too hard on her as she's trying to earn a living in wartime.  But damn, man, knowing or at least suspecting all those men were now dead, and off-loading their laundry on their comrade...

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