Ukraine - somebody explain to me

[Bo Diddley]

Europeans seem to be struggling in their resolve to isolate Russia economically.

[USUC]

second look at NS’s extrajudicial plans for Trump?

actually, the best thing for the country would be for Trump to run again and lose convincingly. The myth of Trump needs to die in the most boring way possible. That way, his disciples also lose political power.

It's much better for Trump not to run at all in 2024. He will inflict far too much damage on the country, further erode the ability of the gullible media to be good at their job, and hurt potential sane people in the GOP. Unlike all you pinkos on here, I much prefer a strong GOP that focuses on fiscal discipline and acts as a healthy counter weight to the progressive unseriousness.

[Northwestcoug]

It's much better for Trump not to run at all in 2024. He will inflict far too much damage on the country, further erode the ability of the gullible media to be good at their job, and hurt potential sane people in the GOP. Unlike all you pinkos on here, I much prefer a strong GOP that focuses on fiscal discipline and acts as a healthy counter weight to the progressive unseriousness.

bro, as a bleeding heart librul I don’t care much for many conservative policies. I do care, however, about government accountability. US style democracy may be on its way out, but having only one functioning national
party will only hasten its demise. As long as Trump has any power over the GOP it will remain ineffective. And the party I prefer will go unchecked and will become corrupt. Well more so than it already is.

Another generation of profligate spending is not going to appreciably alter the trajectory of this nation. But Trump’s fascism-lite needs to be gone like yesterday. It’s allure will only increase if he has perceived leadership. So he needs to run, beat out every serious GOP hopeful, and then lose in a landslide. Then maybe the spineless nominal GOP leadership will cut the cord and become the responsible party you hope it is.

Yeah I know it’s unlikely to happen. But that would be the best outcome.

[Bo Diddley]

Give up already, Putin!

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[PaloAltoCougar]

The wrong thread to post this, I suppose, but I'm struggling a bit as I prepare this Sunday's EQ lesson which is tied to Elder Renlund's otherwise excellent talk (last October), "The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity." The problem is that its central story is how a few years ago the Finns put aside their historical animus towards the Russians to allow the Russkies to enter the newly dedicated Helsinki Temple first. Hearts were mended, love prevailed, etc. etc. The story doesn't play quite as well in the current environment...

[myboynoah]

Read the touching Helsinki Temple story and then ask, "Why do we always need to be forgiving the Russians?" Then go from there!

[Bo Diddley]

I would hope the Temple worthy Russian members are against the war. Of course that's probably not entirely true, considering many of the knuckleheads we have here in the US.

[Jeff Lebowski]

NATO with a new update for russian casualties. Wow.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/rus...inMDHzdeRZvAeD

NATO says that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner or are missing in Ukraine, said a senior military official from the alliance.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization calculates the figure based on information provided by Ukrainian authorities and information obtained from Russia – both officially and unintentionally, the official said.

NATO estimates that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Using statistical averages from past conflicts that for every casualty roughly three soldiers are wounded, NATO analysts reach their total figure.

Russia began its invasion with roughly 190,000 troops. It has since brought in additional troops from Chechnya, Syria and other locations.

[PaloAltoCougar]

NATO with a new update for russian casualties. Wow.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/rus...inMDHzdeRZvAeD

This is terribly sad, but inevitable. Russian leadership has always been more willing than that in other countries to sacrifice its own people in furtherance of the leadership's objectives (see, e.g., WWII), even when those objectives are evil.

[Donuthole]

I think that's pretty fair. With the right team behind her she could probably be competent. But she does not exude confidence at all.

It's not about whether she can be competent. It's about whether she can appear competent enough to beat Trump.

Spoiler for Alert::

She can't.

[USUC]

When looking at Biden and his admin in comparison to Trump, I am glad Trump and his team isn't navigating the country through this moment. But Biden and his administration is not good and the administrative state is run by unserious people who see themselves in an episode of The West Wing. The Iran deal negotiations are a joke and the priorities are ridiculous (I am an advocate of trying to get a deal). Environmental policy rigidity handicaps a lot of genuine progress and inhibits problem solving given the current crisis. Their weaponization of the media to achieve their goals has sown unnecessary distrust even among the non Q crowd. And their fiscal policy actions and rhetoric have hurt everyone.

Just because Biden is more reasonable than Trump doesn't mean he and his admin are anything other than unserious. I pray a serious candidate can emerge from the GOP (Sasse, or a non theatrical governor, ect.). Perhaps a more serious Dem will get the nomination in 2024. But I will not waste any time supporting the unseriousness I'm seeing in the Whitehouse now. And I fervently pray that nothing happens to Biden because Kamala is a disaster waiting to happen.

[myboynoah]

NATO with a new update for russian casualties. Wow.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/rus...inMDHzdeRZvAeD

Crazy numbers which track with what the Ukrainians are publishing (which I'd assumed were likely overly optimistic). I wonder what percentage of those casualties are coming from special forces/airborne units versus regular army/conscripts. Also officers vs. regular joes. They can always throw more regular joes at the fight (but they won't perform very well), but losing better trained/elite troops is a big loss. Can't replicate training and experience in the short term.

[myboynoah]

Riveting video

[myboynoah]

How do you say Karen in Russian?

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[myboynoah]

Hmmmmmmm

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