The Ukraine war thread
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I'm always glad to receive your recommendations, and I will read Kotkin. But I'm interested to know your objection to John Meersheimer. Is it that he's unacceptable, or merely that he's not the best available?
wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 01:25 last edited by RenaudaMearsheiner’s thesis is that the the West, and in particular the US, is determined to establish a global hegemony. He is currently regarded as a leading scholar in the Realist School of International Relations. In short, NATO expansion and the spread of liberal democracy into former Soviet republics is a direct result of this US policy towards establishing a global hegemony. Ironically, the Realist school looks back to George F. Kennan, the father of The Policy of Containment of the USSR as its inspiration. As former student in 1980’s of the Cold War , Kennan was indeed a major influence on many of us, myself included, who looked up to his writings on the USSR during Stalin through to the early years of the Brezhnev era. His publications in later years particularly during Gorbachev and into the Yeltsin period are the basis for Mearsheiner and followers of the Realist School.
Needless to say I do not buy into Mearsheimer’s claims. Russia is where it is today owing to choices made by its political leaders, Putin in particular. I do agree with Kotkin, the time of financial and political appeasement is over. Putin and his kleptocrats must be held to account. We are in a cold war with Russia for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the collective West has the ongoing resolve to contain future Russian expansion and stop it on the Ukrainian frontier. Right now Ukrainians are fighting and dying to keep Russia contained, the least we can do is supply them the means to defend themselves.
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Mearsheiner’s thesis is that the the West, and in particular the US, is determined to establish a global hegemony. He is currently regarded as a leading scholar in the Realist School of International Relations. In short, NATO expansion and the spread of liberal democracy into former Soviet republics is a direct result of this US policy towards establishing a global hegemony. Ironically, the Realist school looks back to George F. Kennan, the father of The Policy of Containment of the USSR as its inspiration. As former student in 1980’s of the Cold War , Kennan was indeed a major influence on many of us, myself included, who looked up to his writings on the USSR during Stalin through to the early years of the Brezhnev era. His publications in later years particularly during Gorbachev and into the Yeltsin period are the basis for Mearsheiner and followers of the Realist School.
Needless to say I do not buy into Mearsheimer’s claims. Russia is where it is today owing to choices made by its political leaders, Putin in particular. I do agree with Kotkin, the time of financial and political appeasement is over. Putin and his kleptocrats must be held to account. We are in a cold war with Russia for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the collective West has the ongoing resolve to contain future Russian expansion and stop it on the Ukrainian frontier. Right now Ukrainians are fighting and dying to keep Russia contained, the least we can do is supply them the means to defend themselves.
wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 06:58 last edited by Catseye3@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:
Right now Ukrainians are fighting and dying to keep Russia contained, the least we can do is supply them the means to defend themselves.
If your perspective is the correct one, this seems inescapable.
Thank you for your thoughtful expanded reply. The devil with taking on a new subject for study is that one is perpetually a student and seemingly never in a position to critique. It's really true that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I appreciate it.
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wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 15:11 last edited by
Car bomb Moscow kills daughter of Russian nationalist, Alexander Dugin:
Interesting fellow, Alexander Dugin. Not the first time either his name has popped up in the Western press. Look his name up. No friend of Ukraine or any other former Soviet republics except maybe, Belarus. Really hates ethnic minorities in Russia.
Too bad about the daughter though. Am sure that in her case, it was nothing personal.
Dad was lucky to have changed his travel plans at the last minute, eh?
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wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 15:20 last edited by
I'm seeing conflicting reports on how much influence Dugin really has with the Kremlin and Putin. Some say that he's really all braggadocio and there's not really much there there.
However, his positions seem to align with those of Putin.
Darya Dugina was also a supporter of the war. She was in the wrong car at the right time - she wasn't the target.
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wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 15:22 last edited by
It would seem to strike where it has the most potential for regime change though. If the elites do not feel safe....
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wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 15:31 last edited by
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I'm seeing conflicting reports on how much influence Dugin really has with the Kremlin and Putin. Some say that he's really all braggadocio and there's not really much there there.
However, his positions seem to align with those of Putin.
Darya Dugina was also a supporter of the war. She was in the wrong car at the right time - she wasn't the target.
wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 17:31 last edited by RenaudaDirect influence over Putin? Most certainly none. Still, Dugin is a Russian media personality and has a wide following over there. Self appointed successor to Solzhenitsyn although he is intellectually not even close to the Nobel laureate.
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Direct influence over Putin? Most certainly none. Still, Dugin is a Russian media personality and has a wide following over there. Self appointed successor to Solzhenitsyn although he is intellectually not even close to the Nobel laureate.
wrote on 21 Aug 2022, 19:20 last edited by@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:
Direct influence over Putin?
I LOLed when I read that
Self appointed successor to Solzhenitsyn
Self-appointed - that tells you everything you need to know.
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@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:
Direct influence over Putin?
I LOLed when I read that
Self appointed successor to Solzhenitsyn
Self-appointed - that tells you everything you need to know.
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wrote on 22 Aug 2022, 17:31 last edited by
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wrote on 23 Aug 2022, 13:30 last edited by
From the Institute for the Study of War's Aug 22 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment:
"Russian occupation officials in Zaporizhia Oblast have obliquely declared the region’s independence from Ukraine by falsely identifying Ukrainian citizens entering the occupied region as temporary asylum seekers. Head of the Zaporizhia Oblast occupation administration Yevheny Balitsky signed an order that designates Ukrainian citizens arriving in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast as temporary asylum seekers based on Russian law. The order requires the registration of Ukrainian and Russian citizens based on their place of residence or place of arrival in the Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhia Oblast and requires the distribution of temporary identification forms for all “stateless persons.” Ukrainians and Russians may register if they present proof of their temporary asylum application. This decree has various implications under both international law and domestic Russian law. International law states that a refugee is an individual from outside the country (or who is stateless) who is seeking “temporary asylum” in another country to escape persecution. Russian law defines a refugee as a person "who is outside of his/her country of nationality or habitual residence.” Neither of these statuses properly apply to the majority of people crossing from unoccupied Ukraine into occupied Zaporizhia.
"Russian occupation authorities are thus falsely classifying all Ukrainians entering occupied territories in Zaporizhia Oblast as refugees escaping persecution in Ukraine."
For the rest: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-22
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wrote on 24 Aug 2022, 01:55 last edited by
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wrote on 24 Aug 2022, 13:58 last edited by
From the Institute for the Study of War's Aug 23 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment:
"Russian government sources confirmed that Russia is bringing Ukrainian children to Russia and having Russian families adopt them. Russian federal subject (region) Krasnodar Krai’s Family and Childhood Administration posted about a program under which Russian authorities transferred over 1,000 children from Mariupol to Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerov, and Altay Krai where Russian families have adopted them. The Administration stated that over 300 children are still waiting to “meet their new families” and that citizens who decide to adopt these children will be provided with a one-time bonus by the state. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) additionally reported that Russian officials transferred 30 Ukrainian children from Khartsyzk, Ilovaysk, and Zuhres in occupied Donetsk Oblast to Nizhny Novgorod under the guise of having the children participate in youth educational-training programs. The forcible transfer of children of one group to another “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."
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wrote on 25 Aug 2022, 01:01 last edited by Renauda
Would not put it past Putin and his FSB thugs to have orchestrated that car bomb that killed Dugina. Just too many coincidences.
Ukraine had nothing to gain by having her or her equally loathsome papa whacked. Nor did Russia - the cowed populace is on board close 100%. The Russian Left is irrelevant. Chechens? Forget it; Kadyrov has made sure they live in terror of crossing his diktats in full support of the Kremlin.
Bluntly, Dugin and his deceased brat were props in an FSB show. My hunch is that Putin and his FSB thugs orchestrated the car bomb that killed Dugina to send an unequivocal message against the real lunatic fringe of Russian nationalists just to remind them just who really is in charge. The longer the war with Ukraine drags on the greater the threat to Putin and his siloviki from the truly fascist elements of Russian society. Naturally nothing can proven to support this hunch but it is neither implausible nor improbable given the wild and enigmatic world of Russian politics and life in general.
As well, the Kremlin and FSB solve the case with hours of the blast up with is some risible nonsense about a Ukrainian woman who came to Moscow in July; lived in the same apartment as Dugina for the past month and; who allegedly escaped to Estonia within three hours of the hit. Makes for a great James Bond movie opening but otherwise does not pass the smell test. We’ve heard this Kremlin narrative or distracter countless times in past.
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Would not put it past Putin and his FSB thugs to have orchestrated that car bomb that killed Dugina. Just too many coincidences.
Ukraine had nothing to gain by having her or her equally loathsome papa whacked. Nor did Russia - the cowed populace is on board close 100%. The Russian Left is irrelevant. Chechens? Forget it; Kadyrov has made sure they live in terror of crossing his diktats in full support of the Kremlin.
Bluntly, Dugin and his deceased brat were props in an FSB show. My hunch is that Putin and his FSB thugs orchestrated the car bomb that killed Dugina to send an unequivocal message against the real lunatic fringe of Russian nationalists just to remind them just who really is in charge. The longer the war with Ukraine drags on the greater the threat to Putin and his siloviki from the truly fascist elements of Russian society. Naturally nothing can proven to support this hunch but it is neither implausible nor improbable given the wild and enigmatic world of Russian politics and life in general.
As well, the Kremlin and FSB solve the case with hours of the blast up with is some risible nonsense about a Ukrainian woman who came to Moscow in July; lived in the same apartment as Dugina for the past month and; who allegedly escaped to Estonia within three hours of the hit. Makes for a great James Bond movie opening but otherwise does not pass the smell test. We’ve heard this Kremlin narrative or distracter countless times in past.
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wrote on 25 Aug 2022, 01:43 last edited by
@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:
Who is Bosch? Not the Renaissance artist I presume.
A character in a detective series named after the artist.
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@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:
Who is Bosch? Not the Renaissance artist I presume.
A character in a detective series named after the artist.
wrote on 25 Aug 2022, 01:52 last edited by RenaudaThat explains it. thanks I’ll have to look it up
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wrote on 25 Aug 2022, 13:53 last edited by Renauda
I have to disagree with the pope on this one:
The Pope has condemned the car bomb murder of «poor girl» Daria Dugina, daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ideologue Alexander Dugin, and said she is another «innocent victim» of the war in Ukraine.
Dugina was by no means an innocent victim of the war. She was an experienced and belligerent propagandist who was determined to wipe Ukraine off the map.