Olivier5

"Dominance" is a matter of force. In the end, power is about the capacity to wield brute force. The narrative of a dictatorship is enforced, that is t...

How is that question even a question?

Just because no one is winning doesn't mean "it is going well for Russia." It's not a zero sum game.

Personally, I always knew you were a wimp.

For instance the RSF Press Freedom Index. Yes, I do. Violence eliminates dissenting voices. Economics don't.

Number of journalists in jail, assassinated, beaten up, could be a good indicator. More generally, indicators of state violence against the independen...

I think Vlad is right to be nervous. It may be more serious than the FSB having just erred in their assessment. The US had access to tiptop intel prio...

Ukraine would want Crimea back, or at least part of it, IMO. Another possible future, if Putin can't manage to extract himself and his men from this s...

I'm not trying to be optimistic, i'm trying to keep my analysis fact-based. The Russians have evidently failed in their objectives so far, with the fo...

So let's speak about evidence. One month in, and they have not even 'liberated' Donbas. They are losing men by the thousands, not counting the prisone...

Just summarize them briefly, will you?

Have you read Popper? Probably not, or you wouldn't compare him to Ayn Rand.

Quite a broad group of people. And what does it translates into, under the circumstances? What policy prescriptions do you make (or not make) as a res...

At least it shows that this choice of equating, say, MM. Biden and Putin by comparing them or any other leader with Nazi figures is not, in the view o...

Wow... Now that's facile IMO.

Who is Himmler and who is Goring in your comparison?

This is not what I am saying. I'm saying you can support whoever you want to. Or not. But don't assume that there is one good choice and only one, con...

More precisely, strategic choices may or may not involve chosing one side against another. But even supporting no side, or supporting both, are choice...

Unclear, please rephrase.

Yes but even if one remains 'apolitical', one must live somewhere, and chose to stay there, under this regime, rather than emigrate over there under a...

Obvious or unexamined? Take for instance this not-so-obvious point of yours: This is not a true choice. Unless you want Zelensky's job and think you c...

Of course we all do tribal politics and the whole us vs them is a simplistic and often counter-productive way to look at things. It's always us with t...

This one is for @"Amity". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ikJony6h_tQ

Thank you.

If you critique someone's ideology without presenting any alternative, you're just making noise with your mouth.

Meh... The big advantage of political nihilism is that one can criticize other ideologies but never ever present a positive belief or alternative onse...

You are afraid to come forth transparently, as you should be.

What I call political nihilism is the incapacity to make any political choice. The incapacity to explain one's politics to another person would be a s...

You attribute a lot of importance to whom you cheer. It's an unusual way to look at politic, very youthful and teenage. People living in mature democr...

PLEASE don't leave Amity. I love you. There are not too many folks I like here. If you go I might as well. The toxicity is high here, on this particul...

I didn't ask for a label but for your ideology. You are welcome to describe it with or without labels. You see, we all have some ideology. It's like m...

You're quite confused, I would agree.

What's your ideology?

Which is entirely natural. Not everyone can be a political nihilist. So we often raise some flag or another, you included probably.

Could be a scene in Orwell's 1984, or from Brazil (the movie). "They asked me, 'Why do you hate us?' The director of the Kherson theater recounts his ...

Mustn't you, to survive among the rest of us?

I did not. I tried to explain to you, that prior to your post, we already had a lengthy discussion on the matter in which the most reasonable posters ...

Yes, there's been that too. It's been a rich debate, let's put it this way.

But that's not all what was said in this discussion. Important points were made re. Mr Putin's own closeness to neonazis, re. the marginal representat...

Life in Kiev, the deserted capital by Rémy Ourdan, Le Monde, 19 March 2022, translation Deepl https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/03/19/...

After the battle of Lepanto, the Venetians were ecstatic, but a year later, the Turks had rebuild their fleet. The Turkish grand vizier told a Venetia...

Amen. The problem is how far the ruins will go.

People are not entitled to their own facts, though. So unless you are prepared to research and discuss facts, it's nothing but opinion against opinion...

I've read them. People are entitled to an opinion, especially when they present facts buttressing them, as @"RogueAI" did.

So the charge is that we have strong opinions? Meh...

Alright, that's welcome. Who then do you accuse of 'cheerleading'? It is high time we have this conversation. If you do a search, the term 'cheerlead'...

If aggressed, I defend myself. Sorry about that. Just stop lying. You don't need to. I am not cheerleading, you are not cheerleading, nobody is cheerl...

The point is that nobody is cheerleading.

You use the word, so you must know what you mean by it. Give it a go, explain the charge if you dare.

That was meant as a joke. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you don't like propaganda, don't lie. Otherwise what does that make you? Nobody here is che...