April 4, 2022

Flame me if you like, but I think one of the unusual aspects of this war

is how clear cut it is in terms of good guys and bad guys.

Most other wars in recent history have been civil wars in which both sides were somewhat unsavory or unsympathetic. Same with wars between poor, developing countries. Who were the good guys in the Iran/Iraq war?

Even in the wars where we were the bad guys (Vietnam, Iraq) our opponents were not particularly sympathetic.

This is a war where a large and powerful country with a brutal, autocratic leadership has attacked, unprovoked, a much smaller and weaker, mostly peaceful and mostly democratic country.

The object of the attack is simply to conquer the country and eliminate it as a distinct nation. In order to achieve this objective, the attacker is perpetrating atrocities against the civilian population intended solely to break it and totally subjugate it.

I don't think it's a color or race thing either. If China does the same thing with Taiwan, I believe that our reactions will be very similar, and for similar reasons.

Other wars have as much, or even more, atrocity and suffering, but few of them involve such a clear cut, one sided aggression.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Flame away.

April 3, 2022

Footage from Bucha. Warning graphic.

https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1510608649193938949?s=20&t=c8r8_8nxvvijvQqyELKWBQ

April 3, 2022

The police in this country are morphing into a private RW militia

That has the legal authority to assault, imprison, and murder you.

These will be the shock troops of the future Putinist dictatorship.

April 3, 2022

Videos by "brainwashed" Russians.

https://twitter.com/makarerevych/status/1510016872070144009?s=20&t=DynJKbiMDjcC-b1qpjhwuw

https://twitter.com/makarerevych/status/1510017627988672512?s=20&t=DynJKbiMDjcC-b1qpjhwuw

Many others on that thread. #NotOnlyPutin

April 3, 2022

Here's another one saying roughly the same thing.

https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510169194465271812?s=20&t=c8r8_8nxvvijvQqyELKWBQ

https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510171026696646656?s=20&t=c8r8_8nxvvijvQqyELKWBQ

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510168073831165956.html

April 2, 2022

More Russian war crimes. Little girls raped.

https://twitter.com/olya_rudenko/status/1510304622816251909?s=20&t=oNhGXu63qzJuTwWHupGQJg

April 1, 2022

My kid's best friend has Covid.

He apparently got quite sick with it despite being vaccinated. Was at his sickest about a week ago, and still very audibly sick on his Skype call to my kid right now.

His other best friend has had it, apparently more than once.

They're currently being homeschooled in order to keep their 82 year old grandma safe.

Pandemic definitely not over yet.

April 1, 2022

Russia blocking grain exports from Ukraine

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1509951851587903488?t=mZCHMDYErrJAI2hWiPQ6IQ&s=19

I wonder if we'll see catastrophic levels of famine because of this.

I wish we would just give Ukraine whatever weapons they need to finish this.

March 21, 2022

I'll probably get flamed for this, but

I think it was a big mistake for Biden to categorically rule out direct military involvement in Ukraine.

Even if that was his actual position, he should have still left some room for uncertainty in Putin's mind.

I feel that his making that statement gave Putin the sense that he could get away with absolutely anything, up to and including genocide, with the guarantee that we wouldn't intervene.

At this point I'm not sure I can even call what's happening a war. It's more like a sustained and continuous terrorist attack.

At this point we should be putting other possibilities on the table, like saying that any government or military official who travels to the West may be subject to arrest for crimes against humanity, and that might also apply to anyone known to have served in the military during this time period.

We need to start getting creative because I think that he might get to the point of actual genocide, or chemical/biological/tactical nukes.

If we've ruled out direct engagement, then we need to be thinking of some truly draconian policies beyond conventional sanctions.

Anyway, that's JMHO.

March 20, 2022

Ukrainians blame ordinary Russians.

https://twitter.com/NeilPHauer/status/1505265888563453959?s=20&t=ky2USNBrHPetkoGHYcxBAA

The thread is interesting. Here's one of the replies.

https://twitter.com/james_violette/status/1505277399025430528?

It seems that many Russians outside of Russia are still supportive of this.