re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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Changing tactics now is not a good idea

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Yeah, they committed to a strategy and there is still meat on the bone.

But also what is the cost to hit a substation that will likely be repaired fairly quickly in Moscow?

Russia is much closer to Kyiv than Ukraine is to Moscow in terms of striking distance. Russia has hit some substations near Kyiv 8 times supposedly. So they keep getting repaired despite strikes on them..

So Ukraine is looking at using a higher dollar implement than Russia has to use to hit something they might have to hit over and over.

Side note: since the Russian double tap attacks on first responders have been well documented, why are they not doing those at substations they hit? There are a lot more first responders than there are people with the knowledge and ability to fix power systems. But that would require Russians to use logic and we know how that goes.

Four Greek tankers hit... It just keeps getting better and better.

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Hit on the way to load oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk:

• Delta Harmony IMO: 9408463;
• Matilda IMO: 9407457;
• Freud IMO: 9804461;
• Delta Supreme IMO: 9585895.

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So an alliance that kept the peace in Europe where wars had raged for decades helped the US more than these other nations who were destroying each other?

NATO also kept the Communists on their side of the iron curtain and eventually enabled Eastern Europe to regain their independence.

I think NATO was a good symbiotic relationship for all its members.

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Good and symbiotic... sure.

The entire point was to keep the Communists on their side of the Iron Curtain... all of those European countries were barriers. This was all devised during the battle of Stalingrad, when we concluded that the Japanese were not the only collectivist death cult we had to deal with... and at that point, the concern was Millions and Millions and Millions of those Communists sweeping Westward, helped by the active Communist political movements in Western European countries, and sitting all along the Atlantic Coast of Europe and Scandinavia... in a position to endanger the U.S. through conventional means and naval power. We buttressed all those countries in place and built up our nuclear arsenal. That was a big benefit to us. And before ICBMs that logic was solid.

European countries got bailed out, rebuilt, got militaries and a system that let them trade with each other instead of fighting over things... and we helped them embark on robust social programs to take away the appeal of Communism in democratic elections, since we were doing the heavy lifting on the military end.

But who grew immensely... who was the biggest economy in the world and then shot into the stratosphere? Whose standard of living shot way beyond those of European countries (with very few exceptions, on average, that only emerged later), which admittedly... most had been reduced to various amounts of rubble?

We saved, protected, and rebuilt them... no disagreement at all.

But we set it all up to give us some benefit, too. We sat at the top of the world.

We also rebuilt West Germany and Japan, who arguably zoomed past any of our WWII allies very quickly. Noam Chomsky insists that the real reason we waded into Vietnam after the French got smart enough to pull out (and warn us it was a lost cause that we shouldn't bother with...) was "so we wouldn't have to have a war with Japan, again. It was to show them we could still project power in that region." Which I don't buy, because... Japan, like Germany, discovered that manufacturing ingenuity and innovation were an easier route to prosperity. Japan didn't have aggressive military impulses... the world was dying to give them money for things they produced, and that allowed them to trade for resources they needed instead of invading places that had them.

I just don't really buy that he would do something that makes it more likely be is overthrown because he was scared of being overthrown

At the very least I don't think what has happened in Iran has changed whatever his view on it is.

It seems the Alant Aero Plant in Taganrog reported hit by Ukrainian drones earlier was in fact a drone manufacturing factory. Also made drone components for different models.




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I think Ukraine needs to continue on with what they are currently doing.

They are hurting the Russian economy which in turn impacts the military.

Changing tactics now is not a good idea.

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Yes, their plan is very sound on having maximum impact on the Russian economy (a gas station with nukes).

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Well, the U.S. by far was the biggest beneficiary of NATO

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Were we?

I'd argue being an alley of the US was far better than being a stooge of the Soviet Union. We can debate that, but even having American military bases brought in Billions of dollars for the host country and - after the fall of the Soviet Union - freed them up to have no military of consequence, essentially financing the 'free medical care' they have hung over our head for a generation. It cost us a lot, but the Europeans relatively little while they were able to avoid being the victims of another fascist state. Being a puppet of the USSR meant being looted among other things; just look to Sarah Paine for that.

There WAS a difference, and it's why we won, boys. The Europeans may not like it, but we took most of the loses in wars and our military not only protected them but financed their current way of life; it's why the current administration has repeated talked about getting 'screwed' by the NATO deal.

So I disagree with you on that, Lee.

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The famous rape culture of India has been exported...

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Hey! It's the Great Replacement Theory that Tucker Carlson was talking about!!!

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US spent money for all of those bases and personnel spent money locally. Nations didn't have to keep their militaries strong with the spending to support strength. Instead, they blew it on free giveaway programs.

Additionally, businesses from member NATO nations received special status to invest in the USA to bolster their GDP to afford military spending. this is administered by the party leader in power in the Senate.

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I mean....

This sounds like your supporting my argument.....