Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Some sh!t stirring individual (Lore Malore, whoever the hell that is) has started a petition looking to dismantle NATO, and giving the impression that with NATO gone the World will be full of sweetness and light. I've never seen so much waffle. The first line sets things up, and in my opinion it's complete BS.

"NATO is the military wing of a racist anti-communist hate group who go around the world intimidating democratically elected governments into submission to private capital."

139 signatures at the last count, and it would never get mine.

Petition · Disband NATO · Change.org

???

Seems like there are at least 2 planes damaged / on fire.

https://t.me/mysiagin/25911

Interesting. I seem to recall the understood position was that the Gripen was exactly the right match of capability to maintenance requirement for Ukraine. That is they aren't as fussy as the F16 about landing strips and maintenance so they can be moved around the country and take off from a bog standard roads. So it's not easy to target them.

But there's feck all of them in existence so they just weren't worth the effort. I also read somewhere that only 6 pilots are being approved initially for the F16 which is woefully short. So Ukraine are exploring the gripen to shore up the initial numbers?

No political interest in the UK to have a go at Ireland, no matter who's in charge. There's no view there that Ireland comprises an integral part of their historical territory in the way that Russia would view Ukraine and a few other independent countries along their borders. Most in the UK couldn't even give you a particularly detailed reason why Northern Ireland is a part of the UK. Generally, they don't think about Ireland.

Maybe if the world situation in general degenerated with things like food and water becoming more scarce, then maybe there would be a degree of interest to requisition some of Ireland's resources, but if it got to that point, we'd probably have bigger worries than sovereignty, and there would probably be a massive rearrangement of alliances anyway such that NATO would crumble.

I wouldn't advocate joining NATO, although I would be in favour of increased defence spending for some proper infrastructure to effectively police our sky and waters.

Probably a diplomatic response. But 3 strikes like that and you get Article 5'd.

It's the same as last year, I'm sure people remember the Ukrainians were on the "outskirts of Kherson/near Kherson airport" several times according to Twitter - before they actually got there.

Have a colleague at work that has that contrarian attitude and supports Russia because he thinks it's a bulwark against the West.

These people have a modicum of intelligence but way overestimate how intelligent they actually are. They think that that by using dodgy news sources that they are far more clued in than us sheeple.

I remember that. It was tedious alright. Wasn't there what turned out to be an American airsoft enthusiast pretending to be at the front near there too.

I think its at least something to do with ego.. they want to feel like they are the smartest people in the room...this is difficult to do if their opinion matches the majority...its that added to a natural contrarianism or susceptibility to conspiracy theories..

There's no superiority in agreeing with the majority but theres a perceived sense of superiority/superior intellect in knowing something most dont or undestanding whats really going on (you have to understand most of these tools have made their living holding contrarian views - some probably arent that sharp, some have brainwashed themselves and some have pigeon holed themselves into that role in public and perhaps in private - hard to know which one is more potentially destructive), for some there was no room at the majority inn and they had to differentiate themselves to make a living but eventually they went "native"....I'd be of the opinion most of those types above would be completely unable to grasp or more accurately apply occams razor as a concept if the conclusions drawn didn't result in their egos being massaged or some sort of self delusions of intellectual superiority weren't being reinforced...it would have to yield the result that their opinion which naturally is different from the majority is the correct one....otherwise it would be like a self imposed withdrawal of oxygen privileges.

And they will always find groups of similarly deluded gobshites to form an echo chamber with.

And naturally they can be useful idiots for certain individuals/bad actors with agendas with no such delusions ....

Tldr....I suspect that deep down these people are terrified that they might be ordinary/nothing special/like the majority....it would be a massive blow to fragile egos to admit that to themselves, instead when pushed they are willing to engage in evermore spectacular feats of mental gymnastics to preserve their fragile egos and massively overblown view of their own intellect

That's my thesis anyway.....

A tricky one ... Russia wields more power and props up brutal regimes all around it from Donetsk to Chechnya to Iran ... they are all basically part of Russia ... maybe Afghanistan is too ... these rickitty regimes run by the likes of Kadyrov, Khamenei and Taliban would not survive 1 second without some rich sponsor like Putin ...

Putin's Russia's status as a nasty regime though depends on where you are located and who you are ... in occupied territories like Chechnya and Iran it is full force brutal voodoo laws made up to crush the people worse than any Irish 1800s penal laws ever did ... and in Ukraine it is war nonstop ... but in Russia itself it is paradise for the people who love Putin ... but not great for those who do not ... while women do not have to wear a voodoo uniform and while there is no prohibition ... things still can be quite unfun for those who oppose Putin ... basically it is though like the 1945-1989 era ... Like the USSR was more moderate than the satellites ... Putin's Russia proper is more moderate to live in than his occupied territories in Ukraine, Iran and Chechnya ... Chechnya being a Russian state that tried for independence ... perhaps their status being ruled by a tyrant and Putin puppet is what awaits Ukraine ...