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I wish Biden would give them at least one shipment of long range missiles to finish off that bridge once and for all. It's an important military target, and it would devastate Putin.
It goes on to outline the distinction between acts of espionage during war. Bottom line, someone doing something while not wearing a uniform during a war doesn't magically make it fall under the definition of terrorism.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould
No, it doesn't.
Like a lot of posts on this thread, it was just nonsense.
Lieqiang is correct and GotHereAsQuickAsICould is wrong.
The article does plainly state that uniforms are not required. See the last paragraph on page 104 continued to page 105 and the associated footnotes.
Also, there is a distinction between committing war crimes and not being protected by the protocols. A person caught wearing civilian clothes engaged in espionage is not protected by the Geneva protocols. They may be executed.
But the espionage is not a war crime nor is the execution.
For those of you who don't know, icrc.org is the International Committee of the Red Cross and that is the repository of the Hague and Geneva Conventions. You can read the actual protocols here, https://www.icrc.org/en/document/gen...onal-protocols
but keep in mind there are multiple supplements over the years.
Anything reported in the western media is suspect. All they do is lie. My own anecdotes and intuitions are infinitely more reliable than whatever the "media" says. In the first place, people with draft orders cannot leave Russia. The people leaving Russia are whoever is worried they might be drafted in the future, their wives/girlfriends/children, and people who thinks they wont be able to leave in the future.
I agree that the majority are likely draft-aged men, but a significant fraction are not. Some are even women who worry that Russia might change the draft laws.
I don't know how the war has affected immigration, but before the war Russia was receiving the second-largest number of immigrants behind only the United States. Millions of Ukrainians live in Russia. Russia is significantly richer than all of its neighbors except Finland and the Baltics. And even then, there are far more opportunities in Russia than in the Baltics(and when adjusting for purchasing power parity the gap narrows even more).
Furthermore, had it not been for continuous sanctions since 2008(Georgian War), Russia would be far richer than it is today. You can see how sanctions cratered Russia's GDP after 2008(Georgian War), then again in 2014(Annexation of Crimea).
In fact, the real danger of Russia is that without war and sanctions, it will continue to get more and more powerful. We need to keep Russia weak. That is the real motive behind expanding NATO east and provoking a war in Ukraine. It is called the Wolfowitz Doctrine.
Just read this report from the RAND corporation, funded by the US government, titled "Overextending and Unbalancing Russia". It should look eerily familiar.
So, you’re going to rely on your own anecdotes and intuition? I notice you specifically mention your distrust of “western” media. You don’t seem to have any distrust of media from totalitarian, authoritarian, anti-democratic, anti-liberal regimes, do you?
There is no danger of Russia getting more and more powerful. It is in demographic decline and getting weaker and weaker. Its only exports are natural resources and military hardware, and after the obvious inferiority of their weapons during their invasion of Ukraine, I expect that source of export income to dry up. The only thing keeping Russia at all relevant on the world stage is their nuclear weapons. Russia isn’t even a great power anymore, let alone a superpower. Their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine will only weaken them further.
One hour after the Crimea Bridge explosion, Crimean authorities announced food will be rationed.
The problem in Crimea, population about 2M, is the same as it is in most places in America. The local food markets only carry enough food for a few days, so constant supply is necessary. And that supply came across railroad on the bridge.
Everyone in Crimea remembers the shortages when annexation took place only 8 years ago. At that time Russia used ships to transport food, but those resources have been retired. So we are seeing long lines at gas stations and supermarkets.
Meanwhile, North of the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian forces are very close to closing the alternative rail route to Ukraine, while at the same time coming close enough to hit Crimean Bridge again and keep it under guard from a distance.
This will completely cut off Crimea from Russian support. If Russians can be removed from Kherson region, Ukraine will be able to provide Crimea with necessities.
There is one road lane on the bridge open to light traffic. I expect the line of Russians wanting to leave will be pretty long.
If he thought he could get away with it, he'd be using nukes now.
Putin's entire strategy is based on his understanding of the West, which is dealing with democracies.
He knows he doesn't need to convince everyone, just enough of the population to elect pro Russian governments.
Cutting energy to the West means unhappy voters. Threatening nuclear war means unhappy voters. Finally, mobilization to drag out the war means a West that grows weary of supporting Ukraine which means unhappy voters. Every single Putin mouth piece in the US tries to foment dissatisfaction in the current administration.
Putin's entire strategy is based on his understanding of the West, which is dealing with democracies.
He knows he doesn't need to convince everyone, just enough of the population to elect pro Russian governments.
Cutting energy to the West means unhappy voters. Threatening nuclear war means unhappy voters. Finally, mobilization to drag out the war means a West that grows weary of supporting Ukraine which means unhappy voters. Every single Putin mouth piece in the US tries to foment dissatisfaction in the current administration.
So, you’re going to rely on your own anecdotes and intuition? I notice you specifically mention your distrust of “western” media. You don’t seem to have any distrust of media from totalitarian, authoritarian, anti-democratic, anti-liberal regimes, do you?
I distrust all media. But yes, at this point, anecdotes and intuition are more reliable than any media. That doesn't mean media is worthless. It has useful information, but it can't be taken at face-value.
When I say "intuition", I just mean forming my own opinion based on the information available. As opposed to letting people in authority tell me what to think.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote....
"To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, “by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.” Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time... the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, but the details are all false."
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeutralZone
There is no danger of Russia getting more and more powerful. It is in demographic decline and getting weaker and weaker. Its only exports are natural resources and military hardware, and after the obvious inferiority of their weapons during their invasion of Ukraine, I expect that source of export income to dry up. The only thing keeping Russia at all relevant on the world stage is their nuclear weapons. Russia isn’t even a great power anymore, let alone a superpower. Their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine will only weaken them further.
Russia is not getting weaker. Rofl. Russia was as weak as its ever been back in the 90's. Had this war played out back then, Russia would have stood no chance. Which is why they could do nothing to help Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars, and had to watch Serbia getting bombed by NATO over Kosovo.
Russia wouldn't have even dared invade Ukraine eight years ago after the coup. It would have been crushed. Rather, Russia has spent the last eight years preparing for this war, especially financially, as well as making a network of allies(China/India/etc).
There is a saying, "War is politics by other means". As a general rule, governments do not opt to fight wars they know they can't win. The reason wars start is because of a "miscalculation".
Putin very well might have miscalculated. Either he miscalculated Russia's strength, or the strength/support of his allies, or how much support the West was willing to give to Ukraine, etc. But there is also a chance the United States miscalculated. That Russia would have more allies/support than expected, that the Russian economy could weather the economic storm, that Europe(especially Germany) would lose its will to maintain sanctions when facing economic and industrial collapse, especially once it starts getting colder.
Regardless, America was at the height of its power in 1991. It has been getting weaker and weaker and weaker ever since. Things cannot continue to go as they've been going. Something has to change or American Empire is doomed. America needs war.
Putin's entire strategy is based on his understanding of the West, which is dealing with democracies.
He knows he doesn't need to convince everyone, just enough of the population to elect pro Russian governments.
Cutting energy to the West means unhappy voters. Threatening nuclear war means unhappy voters. Finally, mobilization to drag out the war means a West that grows weary of supporting Ukraine which means unhappy voters. Every single Putin mouth piece in the US tries to foment dissatisfaction in the current administration.
Current administration is a clown show top to bottom.
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