The War in Europe

And I try and be honest as much as I can. I remember that book. Here were the other things. Lets go down the list and compare the list with the world we see, the ideologies we discuss and those we embrace:

Share everything This is perhaps the major sticking point between the Republicans and the Democrats. In my mind, the Democrats want to legislate that the Reublicans MUST share. The Republicans by and large value freedom to share over demands to embrace equality and equity.

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Play fair. So lets discuss whats fair. You guys first.

Don't hit people. (Im too old to hit very hard and too scared to get hit by hangry young homeless people, so I try and talk with them rather than hate on them. My verbal skills are a two edged sword. I save my ranting for online. I NEVER rant in public!

Put things back where you found them.

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To be continued.

What mess?

According to Colonel Douglas Macgregor, a controversial yet well learned conservative,(Ph.D in international relations) is controversial and outspoken on the Russian Ukrainian conflict. He claims that Ukraine cannot win the war no matter what they do despite massive US and NATO support unless NATO gets directly involved.(which would lead to escalation) Wasn't Wagner initially on Russias side as hired mercenaries? If so, I suspect that this whole 180 degree turn by Wagner is in some way staged and is a form of propaganda to convince the world that Ukraine will win and that it is Russia who is nearly finished.Some of you have mentioned that the conservative playbook is to spread fear rather than patriotic (and unified) optimism regarding the course of such a war. If so, Macgregor is doing his job for the conservatives, but I might point out that he is no country bumpkin with an opinion. In his opinion (he has written several books) Putin never intended to conquer all of Ukraine but simply consolidate the annexed provinces into Russia...UNTIL his army got bloodied and beaten, at which point Putin used superior Russian artillery and missiles to destroy Ukraine. (Ukraine's population has dropped by at least a third since the war started) Trump liked him and as I peruse his bio, I can see that he has been labeled
a racist, anti Muslim, and anti immigration type. Quotes such as this one support that:

Wiki:

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In a 2013 radio appearance, Macgregor spoke of an "entitled" "underclass" of people that were concentrated in "large urban areas", and the threat they posed.

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"And when the food stamps stop, when the free services end, when the heating bills aren’t paid and the heating doesn’t come through in many of these large cities—Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles—this underclass that resides in these places, I think could become very violent."(...) etc etc.

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The Wiki article exposes his public gaffes and racist/nationalist comments. So why do I listen to him?What if he is right? What if the war in Ukraine never gets won by Ukraine?Maybe dwise1 can help me with this one. He is ex-military and not a far right conservative.

I asked:

quote:

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What if the war in Ukraine never gets won by Ukraine?

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I just want to know the truth. I hear more than one narrative and I dont simply trust the presidential press secretary or the news that I hear.If Macgregor is an echo chamber for the far right agenda, who or what is to say that the powers that currently be don't have their own agenda and narrative? Why can't the government and current administration have an agenda of their own?Is there only one story?Is Zelensky the Saint he is made out to be? Is he in fact a "good guy"? One of "us" ?And the 64 thousand dollar question: Who IS us? Who does the peanut gallery represent?And who do they oppose?

One critique of many modern colleges is that over 90% of the professors vote for the same political party. If someone has said anything racist in the past, you cancel them and dismiss any academic credibility that they may have. As soon as this war started, the majority of the peanut gallery was in lockstep and all agreed
to staunchly oppose Czar Vladimir The Condemned. I never questioned that since it appeared that Putin was in fact the aggressor. Now I am exposed to another narrative that tells me that Putin never wanted to go hard and eliminate Ukraine but that his generals did. Ive also heard an alternative narrative that states that Zelensky is no Saint and that this war is only being supported by NATO due to the military industrial complex, the assets of Ukraine, and the fact that the Western belief is that everyone on earth has a right to freedom.
But at what cost?
And how did Prigozhin turn 180 degrees against Putin? I smell a rat. Explain what sort of political advantage "they" would gain and who "they" are?It couldnt be Trump. The system is closing in on locking him up.There are, after all, at least two political parties globally as well as nationally. Why must only one be kept in power?More to the point, why is there only one answer? I suppose that you want me to throw away all that I hear that "sounds right" or that strikes an emotional chord. Yet the bleeding hearts claim that the poor Ukrainians are worthy of support.
I say its because Ukraine is valuable to NATO. We wouldnt be sending much support to a backwash like Yemen!

I bet if Joe Biden or Jerome Powell told you an assertion you wouldn't demand evidence from them.Anyway here is a bit of evidence: College professors donate to Democrats over Republicans by ratio of 95-to-1: Study

Par for the course. Liberal authoritarianism lives on. Im obviously unwelcome here...why the hell do I stay around?

Yeah but now I cant use links at all! Ive never seen anyone else hit with that kind of discipline. Percy mentions my echo chamber, but his whole forum is virtually a left wing echo chamber! Well, if his discipline is in fact corrective rather than punitive, perhaps I will have to learn to make my points more in my own words....but I expect him to eventually reinstate my links since I have also used links creatively at times.

First of all, I thank all of you for bothering to encourage me and explain the motive of the corrective discipline. It may irritate me having to think rather than link, but its probably good for me.Meanwhile in Europe...

Sky News:

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Riots have blazed through Paris, Marseille and Lyon, after police fatally shot 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk.

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The violence comes as France reaches a tipping point after an influx of migrants over recent years.

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“The heart of the problem is this parallel society that has grown up within France, the lost territories and politicians have known about this for 20 years,” The Spectator’s Gavin Mortimer told Sky News Digital Originals.

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Im not sure what this parallel society comment refers to, but it seems to be targeting the immigrants to(in) France. One thing I *do* see is that the rioters...whomever they may be...are fighting against authority (the police) and this bothers me as I fear that this could happen here in America. People need to work with authority figures and authority figures need to respect people. Tearing everything up helps no one. The world needs to learn from these events and people need to educate themselves. The whole group (herd) mentality reaction is caustic to a civilized society/

I was heading in that direction! Yes, I realized that I had not mentioned Ukraine in the post but was too lazy to change the title. Besides, mass riots are wars between people and other people. Rioting is a form of civil conflict. It is far from a peaceful protest.Peoples stuff gets destroyed through missile strikes or through the herd mentality of rioters. And why didn't these people protest and riot in the countries that they came from? Why come over to the neighbors house and ruin it?

I've been doing that more lately. The BBC is my usual go to site, but I also listen to Al Jazeera. NBC News with Lester Holt is another one I watch occasionally.
So here are two stories that I found on the BBC that gave me a better perspective of the troubling expansion of global conflicts.
Ukraine war: Russia goes back to prisons to feed its war machineAdopting the practice of recruiting prisoners as did the now disbanded Wagner Group, (led by Yevgeny Prigozhin - until he and other Wagner group commanders died in a plane crash in August 2023) Russian military is using ex-prisoners to fill the gaps in its defenses (and offenses).

BBC:

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Storm-Z detachments are reportedly often treated as an expendable force thrown into battle - with little consideration for the lives of their servicemen.
There are also indications that members of other army units can be sent to Storm-Z detachments as punishment for violations such as insubordination or drunkenness.

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War is a nasty business and Putin is heartless. If he treats his own people as badly as he is doing, imagine how he thinks of treating the United States and Israel someday.
Russia has resumed nuclear testing, a sure sign of saber rattling.On a final note, lest the world thinks that two wars are not enough, South China Sea: Biden says the US will defend the Philippines if China attacks I have no critique regarding Biden's assertive foreign policy stance in all three areas of contention, but can our economy handle paying all of this money funding other people's wars?Do we have other options or are we going to get sucked into playing global cop as inflation goes up and our aging population counts on Social Security? That's for sure.
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Can the United States remake the world in our own image? Is global Democracy even an ideal? It won't solve all of the problems. I DO agree that there are "forces" of authoritarianism seeking to overthrow the West.Looking at BBC reports on Ukraine:
Ukraine war: Marines gain riverbank foothold but front lines barely moveMany now say that Ukraine cannot win.

BBC:

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The (Ukraine) Marines have spoken of gaining a foothold on "several bridgeheads" on the left bank, as they try to push the Russians back in a bid to protect civilians on the opposite side of the river from constant Russian shelling. The few hundred soldiers are outnumbered and surrounded in three directions, yet have managed to dig in for the best part of a month. This isn't the thousands needed to potentially liberate swathes of territory which Kyiv so desperately wants to do.

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The front line has barely moved for a year and Ukraine finds itself in a tricky cycle. It needs Western help to deliver battlefield progress, but it also needs battlefield progress to convince Western helpers.

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As long as Russia keeps feeding its army with new blood, Ukraine will continue to be involved in a war of attrition and one in which they are unlikely to win.

I think we will go broke anyway. We have spent so much money on wars that did nothing (such as Afghanistan)
and are now being seen as the instigator of wars we don't even fight in, but only support financially.My latest financial apologists all predict a major change in the economy set to hit around March of 2024. Let's hope they are full of hot air!

If Putin beats us, it will be through dethroning the dollar itself. Apart from nuclear and hypersonic missles, he has no weapons with which to defeat us.