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Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/18/22 in all areas

  1. Sure Finland does. Finland spends over 2 percent of GDP on defense and has one of the most capable militaries in Europe. They spend on NATO interoperable equipment and train with us. That’s better than most existing members. It’s not like there’s NATO dues that they’re not paying.
  2. Aggy gonna aggy, no matter the state
  3. We adapted to Small Unit Tactics decades ago, with a huge emphasis on empowering a strong SNCO core, and junior officers who could make tactical decisions on the fly. We are all given the commander's intent, and understand the basic mission objective we're going on. Absent of that we know the intent, so if we lose our leadership we can easily pick up where they left off and complete the mission. Russia is not doing this, which is why so many Generals, Majors, and Colonels, are getting killed. They're micromanagers relying on untrained conscripts. So when things break down they have to get the senior leadership to go down to the front to make sense of it and unfuck it. This puts a big target on their back and gets them killed in large numbers. This is also backed up by the fact that the actual troops on the ground have no clue what is going on. They don't know the tactical OR strategic mission, the leadership is keeping that close to the vest which causes these units to fall apart when their leadership is taken out, or when they reach the current objective they were told about, they stop and sit tight and wait for further orders. There is a really good Forbes quote about this from a French soldier: "Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: 'If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white/remember it's ruin to run from a fight./ So take open order, lie down, sit tight/ And wait for supports like a soldier./ This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. 'In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.' Indeed, virtually every army in the world. The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack! Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other 'incident', the American force will simply go, counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day. This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising. No wonder it surprises the hell out of our enemies..."
  4. Apparently I have been boycotting them without even knowing it.
  5. Yeah.....even among the most progressive folks I know, they see and have an issue with the approach of "changed gender, now compete in the other gender's sports." Acknowledging the cold hard fact that in most athletic endeavors, males have a material advantage, it is simply unfair to allow a person who is male in the ATHLETIC respect (testosterone during developing periods, muscle development, etc.) compete in women's sports. I think most are okay with it the other direction -- a biologically born woman transitioning to male and competing in male events, because that person has not extra advantage. None of this takes away from empathy for the challenges of being trans, having to live your life in that circumstance, and wanting to compete. I understand -- and again, the most progressive folks I know understand -- how much you want to "live a normal life." But in matters that measure biological feats (and that's what athletics is), it is illogical and unfair to deny the role of biology in setting the bar. We acknowledge inherent biological factors in sports like wrestling and boxing, where there are weight classes. Male or female, we don't allow a 6 foot tall heavyweight to identify as a bantamweight and beat the fuck out of a 5 foot tall boxer. Maybe the solution is -- where it's possible -- to have an "open" division. Male, female, trans, anyone who wants can swim the 100m freestyle in the "open" division. Ultimately, this issue is HARMFUL for the trans community, because while a great many people have real empathy, and want to make their path as easy as possible, fundamental ideals of fairness tells people that you don't remedy a situation by creating a counter fundamental unfairness, particularly one that shits on a group (women) who have had to fight for a long-ass time just to get something approaching parity in athletic opportunity.
  6. 16 points
    Y'all remember that one time when Putin helped get that guy in office? I wonder why he did that? Then him and that guy spent the next 4 years chest bumping one another? Then that guy withheld assistance to the Ukraine, while simultaneously preparing to pull us out of NATO? Y'all remember when that dude spent 4 years praising Putin? Ahhh....the good ole days.
  7. I have to say I’m still thinking it’s more likely that Finland and Sweden stay nominally non-aligned although the math to joints closer than ever. That said, both of these countries would be fantastic additions. First, as I mentioned the Finnish military is first rate. They can mobilize 280,000 troops within 30 days and their artillery and armor are among the best in Europe. They’ve just signed a contract for 64 F-35s. Bringing them in militarily would be near seamless. The Swedes have not been spending as much but they still have some pretty amazing capabilities, especially in the naval realm. Politically, both are model democracies and members of the EU. Not a lot of friction or concerns working with them, and it would help the Alliance continue to digest countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia. Geopolitically, the high north is going to be a zone of competition in coming decades and making more of its waters and coastline indisputably in our camp is a win. Adding either/or would be addition by addition to the Alliance.
  8. I'd say its the opposite. To the US the war is a patriotic event that promoted our grandparents and Great grandparents to mythological status. Our current feeling towards Germany, Italy, Hungry, Japan, etc have a complete disconnect from the war. We would never put "On to Berlin" on our new equipment for a parade because it was an event for Zeros and Spitfires and not for Apaches and Javelins. We enjoy talking about it but it has no connection to the now like it seems to have in Russia. It's cultural too. When you had the Romney vs Obama debate it seemed preposterous to average Americans when Romney was discussing the Russians because we had already "beaten" them just as we had the British, the Mexicans, the Confederates, Germans, and everyone else. This is a trend in our historical perspective that other and older states/cultures may not share. That's the American connection to history. Positivism and moving forward.
  9. Are you aware of how fantastic of a malapropism this is?
  10. Shoutout to @MillerEP and the others that put translations of Cyrillic embeds directly under the embed. It makes this thread a LOT easier to follow. (And now I'll quit gumming up the thread, as my hypocrisy does know bounds.)
  11. Things are starting to turn more dire for Z and his forces. Desperate times....
  12. And this blows up any legitimate argument he has. All sovereign nations have the right to control their own destiny. They looked across their eastern border and decided they didn't like how things were going. They decided they wanted to be more European than Russian. Ukrainian blood, and ONLY Ukrainian blood, ran in their streets to start that process in 2014. Then Russia removed all doubt by taking Crimea. If Ukraine wants to join the EU, that is their sovereign right to seek that membership. Same as NATO. The above quoted argument is the geopolitical equivalent of "this wouldn't have happened if she didn't dress that way." Bullshit.
  13. Look at this braggart with 12" of soil on his property...
  14. I’m cool if someone is transgender. Honesty it’s more that I don’t really care what other people want to do. But I don’t see the fairness in letting a trans woman compete with biologically born women in sports. And it’s not about just requiring her to be on hormones for a certain amount of time. She has an inherent advantage that can’t be overcome.
  15. It was my nickname back in the college days.
  16. 12 points
    LOL. Wow, that's gonna sting.
  17. BTW - I negged 2 of you for talking shit about Brock - he was the only reason we stayed in the game in the first half. Late in the game he enforces one on that pussy #3 who had been a bitch all game. We still win running away. That isn't a dumb situational play - that's a fucking culture play. Understand the difference.
  18. Stripes called it for us, years ago ................
  19. 8? Dude, it’s been 14. One first round win in 14 fucking years. All those NBA players with nothing to show for it, and this roster full of players from the Island of Misfit Toys, an all star squad of losers, comes together to play amazing defense to show us what a team that’s actually been coaches really looks like. So excited for the future.
  20. I think you were telling everyone on this very thread that the invasion wasn’t gonna happen and U.S. intelligence was lying until the day it kicked off, so sorry for not buying any “America and Russia are same-same” trash even if Iraq was a stain on our conscience. You’re also not someone I need to hear from on Russia and how Russian politics and society works
  21. 11 points
    Cuba is where this argument falls apart. After Bay of Pigs we accepted Cuba as a state that was aligned explicitly with Moscow militarily and economically for fucking decades. Thousands of Soviet troops and trainers and weapons and everything! Hell, we accepted it even after the USSR went away, and we even had our little Sevastopol analogy in Guantanamo. Our red line was nuclear weapons in Cuba— something the Soviets actually tried and something we never even discussed in Ukraine. All of the mouth breathers who repeat “what if Russia tried this in the Western Hemisphere” ignore the fact that they have a gotdamned case study staring them in the face a mere 90 miles from Florida. “Invade and level city blocks” was not part of that study. The argument hinges on a belief that one particular stated Russian rationale for invading (among the many they have offered) is the actual rationale- because it’s the one that fits in with the mental framework that realist scholars have constructed. They’ve gone to IKEA and bought cabinets, they’ve built a semi-functional cabinet with some of the parts, and have ignored the pieces they’ve left behind as well as the drawing of the finished product. Success! The Russians aren’t high on their own propaganda supply, they know damn well that as long as Crimea and Donbas were not settled Ukraine would never join NATO and they damn sure never believed in “American nuclear missiles in Ukraine.” Ukraine’s halting and tentative western drift has good explanatory power for the long-standing tensions with Russia. It has very poor explanatory power for the precise Russian actions we are seeing now and intelligent observers should look elsewhere. Like maybe how Putin said “Ukraine isn’t a real country, I want it, and I’m going to go take it.”
  22. Königsberg, bro. I mean, the Russians can keep calling him Kaliningrad or Unicornistan or whatever made-up shit their fried-onion synapses come up with, but his mama called him Königsberg so I'ma call him Königsberg too.
  23. Indeed, some officers and NCO warp regulations with such pettifoggery and chicanery that a mere lawyer looks like an honest brick mason by comparison. They all wither away under the gaze of the Motor Pool Clerk.
  24. I’m hoping he gets traded to Arizona so Kliff can bench him one more time.
  25. Small sample size of one internet douchebag but, starting from when I was a shithead 18-1/2 years old private and fresh out of AIT, the percentage of SGTs-1SGs that had me thinking "damn, he/she is squared away" was a lot higher than for 1LTs-MAJs. And not just in the "pressed BDUs and shiny boots" way, but in the "they quickly picks thing up, gets their troops, and can cajole, coerce, etc. just right to get done what needs to be done" kind of way. I'm 40 years old, 16 years out, and a few laughably douchey degrees older, but I still often go back to the core lessons I picked up from my NCOs. No surprise that the Ukeleles are kicking ass if they have NCOs like ours. [Note: I am 3/8 Ukrainian so I get a pass on the "Ukelele" thing, fuckers.]
  26. 10 points
    Real talk. You are probably right that we don't particularly give a shit about the Ukraine. I mean, they are cool, and scrappy as fuck. Their meme game is on point. But whether the Ukraine is a self governed or not, well, there's a reason we have not actually put any planes in the air, let alone boots on the ground. But what we do care about, and which is of strategic interest to us, is bringing about the downfall of Putin's Russia. Here's a fucking news flash: Russia has been actively engaged in a war with us for several years now. While we have been trying our best to ignore them, they have: Hacked the voting infrastructure of 21 states Hacked Hillary Clinton's campaign infrastructure Attempted to hack the RNC Attempted to hack Mark Rubio's campaign infrastructure Aided a candidate to be elected as President of the US and sabotaged his opposition in illegal ways Amplified the strife and discord in this country that resulted in the Michigan Governor kidnapping plot, the Oregon riots, the January 6th riots, etc.. etc.. And more... Those are direct attacks on our country and have resulted in the loss of American lives. So we cannot afford to ignore Russia no matter what you or Meatgazer thinks. You don't always get to pick your fights. Or exactly who you have to be concerned with strategically. Sometimes that choice is made for you, and Russia has made themselves our enemy. So now we've been presented with an opportunity by and through the Ukraine to fuck Putin in the goatass. To weaken him greatly by help keeping them in the game. To very possibly see him deposed. Are there risks? Sure. But I would say that it's far riskier to try to keep ignoring the threat to our country, democracy and way of life that Putin presents. We would have had to confront Putin eventually, and with more risks and less chance of success than what we see now in the Ukraine. I am glad the people that see it this way (and not you) are the people in charge of safeguarding our strategic interests. Sources: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-senate-findings-fact/factbox-key-findings-from-senate-inquiry-into-russian-interference-in-2016-u-s-election-idUSKCN25E2OY https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/us/politics/election-interference-russia-2020-assessment.html
  27. Can you people appreciate what it’s like for me to work with Brisket? I mean, it’s just like this day in and day out. God, it makes me pine for the days of working with @DDD Dad, and that was no picnic—believe me. Makes me think I need @Shady Ray up for a job—at least he’ll take half of September off to drink bier.
  28. When I read this I was like Then I read this And I was like
  29. Just needs to play a 9 and 12 seed to hit his inside straight.
  30. What if a stray tactical nuke accidentally hits the CR?
  31. 9 points
    Stop saying this. It was Putin who's been meddling in Ukrainian affairs. It's important to recall the timeline of events here. In 2012, Ukraine and the EU commenced negotiations on their Association Agreement. Then-president Yanukovych was initially supportive of that agreement and pushed for it to be approved after passing several laws to meet EU standards. In 2013, Putin "flipped his wig" and changed customs regulations that stopped all imports from Ukraine, causing their exports to immediately crash. Yanukovych then reneged on the deal, which then resulted in widespread protests leading to Euromaidan and Yanukovych's ouster and flight to Russia. Putin then "flipped his wig" again and invaded Ukraine. And the above doesn't even include the Orange Revolution in 2004 which was caused by a corrupt and rigged election during which the pro-Western opponent of Yanukovych (Russia's boy) was poisoned and disfigured by dioxin - an unfortunate malady that seems all too common for people who Putin doesn't like. Maybe he "flipped his wig" then too when Ukraine was already looking West.
  32. Here for the link to the @Bitterwhiteguy article!
  33. Hey guys, don't forget to keep pointing and laughing at Shaka Smart, a current resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  34. Most brilliant person in the world: Brisket, age 15-24 or so. Dumbest person in the world: Brisket's dad, that exact same time period. Biggest transformation n human history: Brisket's dad got a shitload smarter around the time Brisket turned 24. It was the damndest thing.
  35. Gender is irrelevant. Compete by biological sex or do away with women's leagues altogether. Problem solved.
  36. 9 points
    Here’s the thing— I can’t say for sure but I feel pretty comfortable saying that I’ve read more of Mearsheimer than almost anyone should ever wish for and more than most people posting here for sure. Mearsheimer is a brilliant IR scholar. He builds big theoretical models of how states interact with each other. He’s not a Ukraine specialist or Russia specialist. As far as I know he does not speak Russian or Ukrainian. This is evident from the actual Ukraine specific information he gives in the 2014 article, which is pure conspiracy propaganda straight from the Spuntik English language style guide, it’s not even close to a decent summary of what happened on the ground in 2014 in Kyiv or beyond. He’s chosen the Kremlin narrative because it tracks with the framework he constructed and not because it’s reality. Mearsheimer has also— and this is well-documented— become well off and famous outside of the IR geek world by playing the “cranky and straight-shooting iconoclast” role together with Walt. He’s full of blistering hot takes on all sorts of things beyond his area of expertise. So when he’s world-building an international system of how states might bounce off of or attract each other, pay attention. At the smaller level of specific wars and specific decisions in specific places, take him with a whole rim of salt. He’s not an expert in everything but does have an opinion on it all.
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