Ukraine

[LeoV]

Did mean his latest speech in general, not given today. Was at St.Peterburgs economic forum. End of Unipolar world.

Next speech, according to Tass;
Putin said at a meeting at the Foreign Intelligence Service that he planned to dedicate one of his next public speeches to an analysis of global affairs.

 

[dogwatch]

Did mean his latest speech in general, not given today. Was at St.Peterburgs economic forum. End of Unipolar world.

OK, thanks. I think the unipolar world went quite some time ago, courtesy of China.

 

[Stingray~]

OK, thanks. I think the unipolar world went quite some time ago, courtesy of China.

What is Putin's issue with the so-called 'unipolar world'? Yes, The USA (for a long list of reasons, especially not suffering the damage Europe did during WW2) has by far the biggest GDP in the world as a single country (although not much different from the EU as a whole) but, except through mutually-agreed trade arrangements, it is not like the USA controls much of what happens in Europe, or even our closest neighbors Mexico and Canada. And some country always will be the 'richest' be it USA down the line or not, and so... so what? Not getting his argument. 'Make Russia Great Again'? Yeah, right.

Oh... And it was not the USA tried to get expansionist, who went in to smash up Ukraine!

 

[Kiwing]

Is USA dividing into rational and irrational, church and enlightenment as Steve Pinker calls it, Democratic, Republic, -- Civil war?

 

[Stingray~]

Is USA dividing into rational and irrational, church and enlightenment as Steve Pinker calls it, Democratic, Republic, -- Civil war?

I blame the media for much of it, fanning the flames of the extremes on 'both' sides, for the ratings viewership that sensationalism brings.

Am confident that 'mainstream' America has big momentum and remains relatively rational Most do not pay attention to the national news with much attention until within a month or so of big elections, when they get bombarded with advertising across even the popular media they tune into.

The policy differences between the Dems and Repubs is not even all that big, from a 30k ft view. Nobody is trying to implement communism, or promote public beheadings, or anything else unAmerican.

The truly-historic armed insurrection attempt on Jan 6 '21 will get properly dealt with.

 

[estarzinger]

What is Putin's issue with the so-called 'unipolar world'?

Putin has been reasonably vocal over the years about 'his issue'. Sometime around 2007, he was quite clear in several speeches. Google "2007 unipolar Putin" and you will get a direct answer straight from his mouth.

it is not like the USA controls much

hmmm . . . many many people would disagree with you. It is probably too big a topic for this thread.

 

[Kiwing]

From my top of the world point of view, America seems very divided. How can things like Jan 6th even be thought of let alone nearly carried out?
I think, Californians are were Americans should be but the mid west seems to follow an anti establishment view. Who ever leads the Republicans will be worst than Trump if it is not him and they have a good chance of rolling the divided Democrats? When the Democrats control the Senate and the supreme court again maybe America can be call rational again?

 

[Stingray~]

hmmm . . . many many people would disagree with you.

Putin included, apparently, although I don't see how if Russia is in decline that it was any fault of the USA. Other ex-USSR countries have been on a more positive path. Putin's model is just a bad one!

 

[Kiwing]

America's "you are either with us or against us" policy is a big contributor to the world's state at the moment.
I hope NZ can stay neutral in the way of not taking sides and providing a police force and repair force.

 

[Stingray~]

Any guesses about how long it will be, before Ukr loses Kramatorsk too?

 

[Stingray~]

Heard a report from on NPR radio today that included interviews from farmers on the front lines, with the issues they are facing when trying to decide about if they can harvest their spring crops and if it would even pay them to do so, given the storage and transportation challenges, versus what they can get paid for those crops. One guy said he is going to just burn his 3000 acres, would be cheaper that way. Another guy (a buyer of crops) said they are getting around 2M tons per month transported up the Danube and such, but it is half what the normal movement amount is and is barely feasible economically. Yikes.

They need to get the Black Sea sorted!

 

[Mid]

Heard a report from on NPR radio today that included interviews from farmers on the front lines, with the issues they are facing when trying to decide about if they can harvest their spring crops and if it would even pay them to do so, given the storage and transportation challenges, versus what they can get paid for those crops. One guy said he is going to just burn his 3000 acres, would be cheaper that way. Another guy (a buyer of crops) said they are getting around 2M tons per month transported up the Danube and such, but it is half what the normal movement amount is and is barely feasible economically. Yikes.

They need to get the Black Sea sorted!

 

[Stingray~]

View attachment 526629

? Is there good news in that pic? Hopefully..

One of the guys interviewed, his farm is on the frontlines, also said about a third of his land is too dangerous to go into because of all the unexploded artillery in there. He has 'pulled the curtain on' (closed off) all those croplands. He also said that farmers to the east of him have had grain silos decimated, and some of the silos basically just robbed and then railroaded to Crimea, for export from there. Same guy said he has 45 employees, 15 of them went to the front lines, 1 got taken prisoner, and he has a lot of families to still take care of.

 

[Mid]

Is there good news in that pic?

well they are harvesting , however it's still along way to market and bellys so the odds ain't attractive to me

 

[Mid]

t a third of his land is too dangerous to go into because of all the unexploded artillery in there.

yep , there's a vid on twitter showing a line of personal armed with metal detectors sweeping a wheat field

 

[Mid]

found it

 

[Stingray~]

yep , there's a vid on twitter showing a line of personal armed with metal detectors sweeping a wheat field

Yep. In one part of the story I heard, the reporter described in vivid detail the little red flags visible among the crops, to mark where metal has been detected. They were all over the place, without even going far into the farmland yet. It brought tears to the eyes of some of these forever land-loving farmers.

 

[phill_nz]

America's "you are either with us or against us" policy is a big contributor to the world's state at the moment.
I hope NZ can stay neutral in the way of not taking sides and providing a police force and repair force.

?
not sure what your about there
cannot be talking about the ukraine war
we have supplied medical and defense supplies to ukraine
we are also training ukrainian troops on how to use the 105mm L119

NZDF Artillery Team to Train Ukrainians alongside UK

A New Zealand Defence Force Artillery Training Team is due to start training Ukrainian soldiers in using the 105mm L119 Light Gun.

www.nzdf.mil.nz

 

[Stingray~]

One of the many things I admire about NZ is how you guys are nuke-free. If we can achieve that more universally, we will all be much better off. I don't trust any leaders to have that kind of planetary-destructive power.

 

[Steam Flyer]

One of the many things I admire about NZ is how you guys are nuke-free. If we can achieve that more universally, we will all be much better off. I don't trust any leaders to have that kind of planetary-destructive power.

On that, I agree with you.

However, how do you force a national leader to give up that kind of power?