Sure, if all you read is this forum, then maybe it seems the case isn't made enough against Putin. I do not have a television, but I follow the major ...
Because billions of dollars are already spent to make the case to defend the American president, there's zero need to "make it more". Likewise, the ca...
I can't speak for @"Benkei" but he may have some bizarre legal idea that both sides of a dispute deserve to be heard, which you interpret as defending...
As @"Benkei" (an actual lawyer) has already pointed out, there does need to be some sort of credible investigation, chance for the accused to defend t...
Why weren't they evacuated by those trains just mentioned as evacuating people because Kiev wasn't under a siege in any sense of the word? Finland eva...
What seems much more like obsessing over a point is going over analysis literally 4 weeks ago, which difficult to deny now, was far more accurate than...
It's just part of actually analysing what is actually happening. Russian military advances on Kiev, applies large amount of pressure (call a siege or ...
Totally agreed. "Harming" the oligarchs actually removed their influence ... not motivated them to do anything about Putin. The influence of the oliga...
I'm pretty sure nearly everyone in this thread, if not everyone, shares this same opinion. The only differences are that of how to go about achieving ...
I don't care what you call it, and I never predicted Kiev to come under "complete encirclement" and "100% siege". However, it's relevant anyways to po...
You did not read my comments. I explain that the I never "predicted" Kiev would be 100% encircled with 0 supplies in the first place, just explaining ...
Sure, nothing prevents you from placing everything in the past tense; it's just not obligatory in English and even the exception. However, we're agree...
The authors also don't include a second order analysis of what affect their, and similar, analysis may have on the Kremlin's decision making (regardle...
And, to be clear. Losses experienced around Kiev is certainly a factor in the current Russian withdrawal. However, if the purpose was to apply politic...
This is not how the English language works. For example: "I went to the shop yesterday, right. So, I'm in the shop, I pickup this bottle. I drop it an...
Again, context matters. If you care enough about an article to cite it, you should respect the authors enough to read it and be somewhat confident to ...
Read the context: "Can be argued to have" I am explaining analysis that was about the present when it was written, but in the past now. The context of...
If you bother to read the context, the article predicts Russia is unlikely to undertake a full scale invasion - and if so, super limited incursions su...
As an anarchist the root cause of this war and the wars you mention is the sovereign nation state system as we currently know it, from my point of vie...
I agree from the perspective you are talking about. However, just as the US mentions 100 to 1 kill ratios to explain military performance was great in...
In this context I am using achievement simply to mean what was accomplished. I.e. what is there to show for the costs, which I make clear many times I...
What you cite are not predictions. The prediction is that Russia will simply end it's offensives at some point and declare it achieved its objectives;...
I use the word surround rather than encircle, and use the word "pressure" rather than siege for a reason. If the goal is not to take Kiev, just tie-up...
Sure, maybe if your position isn't clear and you refuse to formulate it succinctly, then for the sake of argument and the discussion moving forward, o...
This is exactly what they did. They "surrounded" Kiev and put pressure on leadership to get the deal they want. The first weeks of the war were "Ukrai...
These predictions were completely obvious and @"Isaac" and plenty of commentators on the internet made the exact same predictions. Russia rolls throug...
In the same sentence that you deny ever saying Ukraine has "won" anything ... you claim pointing out Russia achieving it's stated objectives is the ca...
I completely agree Russia has taken immense risks. However, letting the situation fester (8 years of war in Dombas, eventual Ukrainian de facto, if no...
This is exactly the archetypical bane of liberalism I mention above. For, if Ukrainians deciding to continue to fight "for their rights" rather than a...
How is predicting, 4 weeks ago, exactly what the Russians now do, bullshit? It was obvious 4 weeks ago that they could just consolidate their land gra...
Point being, even if we all agreed Ukraine was acting in self defence and not Russia. So what? NATO could go send boots on the ground to enforce Ukrai...
That's simply not true, the neo-con's and war hawks have constantly talked about preventing any regional "competitor" from emerging for decades, in wh...
Obviously @"Benkei" can explain things again, however, to have a go at it, he does not say Russia has a right to invade Ukraine, merely pointing out t...
The alternative moral and political framework to complaining about rights, is focusing on decision making. The key word in this alternative perspectiv...
@"Benkei" is simply trying to explain the obvious, which is that rights and decision making aren't the same thing. It doesn't matter what Russia's and...
How is it "echoing" if I said the same trenchant "analysis" weeks before. Of note (4 weeks and a day ago) "Kremlin can stop anytime and just consolida...
We're in agreement here. If people were making strong claims that this was all somehow "genius 4 D chess" by the Russians, I'd point out the flaws in ...
It's certainly possible, I just don't see any concrete evidence. There's often focus on single lines of speeches or then that things were a surprise t...
Another example would be Putin's essay on Ukrainian "artificialness". If Russia managed to takeover all of Ukraine uncontested, that essay is a basis ...
There simply did not exist any alternatives to SWIFT at all before Russia and China made 2 after 2014 and the first round of sanctions and American an...
But again, they took preparatory action such as make an alternative to Swift, isolate all sorts of industries, build a fleet of nuclear ice breakers t...
And, likewise for the sanctions. The idea the Kremlin has been taken completely by surprise by the sanctions and economy is in free fall, would make s...
How'd they close the land bridge to Crimea within a few days and encircle Mariupol (the whole of their primary ideological opponent) ... without a pla...
Web is also fragmenting, I can't access rt.com ... even though it's apparently not legally banned here, but I'm still not allowed to see it. Of course...
That's not a plan, it's just a priori wish of pretty much any engagement. Ukrainians would have preferred the Russians to just immediately capitulate ...
By conquer I mean through urban warfare. Of course, if Zelenskyy simply capitulated or then Ukrainian forces just surrendered, that would have been pr...
Likewise, it's been repeated many, many times that the Russians have tried but failed to kill Zelenskyy. However, some analysists have pointed out tha...
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