From Russia with love
  • MorphOS Developer
    jacadcaps
    Posts: 2992 from 2003/3/5
    From: Canada
    Quote:

    QMaster wrote:
    BTW, Russians never ever started ANY war unlike USA e.x.


    Are you seriously that ignorant of European history or are you trying to delude yourself? Such bs surely isn't helping your case.
  • »16.03.14 - 10:44
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Thank you Gentleman.

    And the Russians had Stalin. A leader every bit as tyrannical and evil as Hitler.

    "Who with a sword will come to us, he will die by the sword.
    Just remember that phrase of Alexander Nevsky. It is definitely show our foreign policy."

    We have never allowed Russian bluster to intimidate us. Your economy, philosophy, and politics defeated you without us ever having to fire a shot.

    Perhaps we should have followed General Patton's suggestion after German capitulation. It would have been an opportune time to rescue the majority of Russia's population that does not want to live under yet another form of totalitarian control.

    Edit - Funny, I would have thought that by now I'd need to apologize to my German friends for rationalizing the incineration of entire cities.
    But in a weird way the US, German, and Japanese people have a shared understanding of the ultimate horror of war and a commitment not to allow things to descend to that level again.

    And...We all now live together, globally.
    Russia can join the global community and economy or return to its former adversarial isolation.
    A pity it would be, to place such limits on its people, but its a Russian decision not ours.
    We live via communication, cooperation, and compromise.
    Its time for Russia's leaders to decide whether or not to join us all in the 21st century.

    [ Edited by Jim 16.03.2014 - 19:05 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »16.03.14 - 11:29
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    jacadcaps wrote:
    Quote:

    QMaster wrote:
    BTW, Russians never ever started ANY war unlike USA e.x.


    Are you seriously that ignorant of European history or are you trying to delude yourself? Such bs surely isn't helping your case.


    Yes, a Pole would understand how laughable that idea was.
    The horrible things that have been visited on such an enlightened people are inexcusable.

    [ Edited by Jim 17.03.2014 - 21:46 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »16.03.14 - 11:47
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  • Butterfly
    Butterfly
    Posts: 98 from 2004/6/4
    From: Ivanovo, Russia
    Jaca: You mean Molotov-Ribbentrop pact? It wasn't a start of war afaik. That was a chance to avoid it. Not lucky. Our country payed for that alot.

    Jim: Let's not mention Vietnam, Iraqi, Yugoslavia and much much more... Ignoring that and saying that RUSSIA IS EVIL because they are EVIL is some sort of idiotism...
    WBR, Vladimir Berezenko
  • »17.03.14 - 17:08
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    idiotism?
    Interesting word. I like it.
    And I never said Russia was evil.
    I said I like Russians.
    I despise your leaders (then again, I'm not that fond of my own).
    And the violation of Polish sovereignty you mention brought France and Great Britain into World War II.

    BTW - Why did you leave out our mutual debacle with Afganistan?

    Oh, AND I probably should not have mentioned Patton's "out there" idea, as Russian sovereignty is theirs to divine.
    I'd just hoped by now, with all the changes, that you'd have outgrown this need to dominate your satellite countries.
    Poland never appreciated it, Georgia wants NATO admission, and the Serbs? Well you can have the Serbs.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »17.03.14 - 17:43
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2242 from 2003/2/24
    @QMaster

    A war isn't allways started by the 1st bullet but by the intent to fire those bullets.

    The Molotow-Ribbentrop was about both sides aggreeing which sovereign countries the other side could invade without breaking the "piece"
    Germany got 2/3 of Poland, Russia the rest, Finnland (were they failed) and the baltic states.

    The fact that the Soviet started a moving a few days after the Germans means nothing.
  • »17.03.14 - 18:28
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  • MorphOS Developer
    itix
    Posts: 1516 from 2003/2/24
    From: Finland
    Quote:

    QMaster wrote:
    Jaca: You mean Molotov-Ribbentrop pact? It wasn't a start of war afaik. That was a chance to avoid it. Not lucky. Our country payed for that alot.


    A chance to avoid a war with another war? ;-)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila
    1 + 1 = 3 with very large values of 1
  • »17.03.14 - 19:54
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    >The fact that the Soviet started a moving a few days after the Germans means nothing.

    Maybe they were "protecting" Poland, or Russians in Poland, or....just agreeing with Hitler to split the country?

    We are back to Stalin here. BAD DUDE. Yeah, evil, and that's not idiotic.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »17.03.14 - 19:58
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    koszer
    Posts: 1246 from 2004/2/8
    From: Poland
    Quote:

    QMaster wrote:
    Jaca: You mean Molotov-Ribbentrop pact? It wasn't a start of war afaik.


    Well, honestly, that WAS the start of the war. Now Hitler knew that he can invade Poland and Soviet Russia won't interfere. No, my friend, USSR could easily prevent II WW by signing a pact with Great Britain and France. That would leave Hitler isolated and (most probably) fighting on two fronts, and that (as proven before and later on) would bring him to his knees. Stalin wanted this war. He needed it badly.
  • »17.03.14 - 21:02
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    Zylesea
    Posts: 2053 from 2003/6/4
    Well. let's come back to today. Give each other a hand and look to the future. Crimea's ppl voted for Russia. The referendum may be influenced, illegal or #?, but the majority of the Crimea population seem to want to belong to Russia.
    There's a saying in German "Residende soll man nicht aufhalten" (dictionary says appropiate translation would be "Let the singer sing his/her song" meaning let them pursue the plan, it's their decision, but if it fails don't let them complain later on).

    As i said, the _whole_ issue stinks.

    [ Editiert durch Zylesea 17.03.2014 - 21:24 ]
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »17.03.14 - 21:24
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    hooligan
    Posts: 1948 from 2003/2/23
    From: Lahti, Finland
    Quote:

    Zylesea wrote:
    Well. let's come back to today. Give each other a hand and look to the future. Crimea's ppl voted for Russia. The referendum may be influenced, illegal or #?, but the majority of the Crimea population seem to want to belong to Russia.


    96,77% voted yes.. I won't say the voting was rigged, but I do have a North Korea itch here..
    www.mikseri.net/hooligan <- Free music
  • »18.03.14 - 05:33
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    takemehomegrandma
    Posts: 2720 from 2003/2/24
    Quote:

    Zylesea wrote:
    Well. let's come back to today. Give each other a hand and look to the future. Crimea's ppl voted for Russia. The referendum may be influenced, illegal or #?, but the majority of the Crimea population seem to want to belong to Russia.


    The poll had two options:
    1) "Do you want Crimea to belong to Russia?"
    2) "Do you want Crimea to 'kind-of' belong to Russia?"

    No third option for keeping the current situation of Crimea belonging to Ukraine, and not possible to vote blank. The polling was conducted at gunpoint from invaded foreign military, it was rushed, there was no time for debates (which wasn't allowed anyway), no independent media coverage only propaganda, and journalists not singing the propaganda song were threatened or abused or cut off in other ways, no independent/international observers were allowed, etc.

    And the fact alone that the amount of ethnical Russians in the area is only slightly above 50% or so, makes both the attendence figures as well as the polling results highly questionable and rather amusing.

    The people of Crimea has *not* spoken. It was an orchestrated farce, nothing more.
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  • »18.03.14 - 07:37
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    TheMagicM
    Posts: 1217 from 2003/6/17
    As a US citizen, we should stay out of it. Anyone from Crimea that actually saw the ballot? Who think its rigged?

    EDIT: financially, did Crimea think this through?

    [ Edited by TheMagicM 18.03.2014 - 06:33 ]
  • »18.03.14 - 13:30
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    TheMagicM wrote:
    As a US citizen, we should stay out of it. Anyone from Crimea that actually saw the ballot? Who think its rigged?

    EDIT: financially, did Crimea think this through?


    Fine, YOU stay out of it.
    The Russian Army has occupied the Ukraine.
    What other evidence do you need of undue influence?
    Is an election without a "no" option fair?
    Is it fair under gunpoint?

    If the US had stayed out of WWII, there would be a lot more people speaking German and Japanese today.
    We have benefited by not being isolationists.

    I for one will not support calls to abandon the people of the Ukraine to Russian domination.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »18.03.14 - 13:46
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  • ASiegel
    Posts: 1370 from 2003/2/15
    From: Central Europe
    @ Jim
    Quote:

    If the US had stayed out of WWII, there would be a lot more people speaking German and Japanese today.

    Is speaking either Japanese or German an inherently bad thing?

    @ TheMagicM
    Quote:

    EDIT: financially, did Crimea think this through?

    Russia's GDP per capita is roughly the equivalent of 400% of Ukraine's GDP per capita. The neighbouring Bulgaria and Romania, which are both part of the European Union, have about twice the GDP per capita compared to the Ukraine.

    That said, it's obviously more complicated than this.
  • »18.03.14 - 15:46
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    TheMagicM
    Posts: 1217 from 2003/6/17
    Quote:

    Jim wrote:

    Fine, YOU stay out of it.
    The Russian Army has occupied the Ukraine.
    What other evidence do you need of undue influence?
    Is an election without a "no" option fair?
    Is it fair under gunpoint?

    If the US had stayed out of WWII, there would be a lot more people speaking German and Japanese today.
    We have benefited by not being isolationists.

    I for one will not support calls to abandon the people of the Ukraine to Russian domination.


    I don't see why the US needs to help everyone. We get fucked when we help. This is hardly the Hitler situation as in Germany of years ago.

    Are you in Crimea and see this gunpoint situation or are you sensationalizing it? I haven't seen a ballot stating its a yes or yes option. Again, have you?
  • »18.03.14 - 16:14
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    TheMagicM
    Posts: 1217 from 2003/6/17
    Quote:

    ASiegel wrote:

    @ TheMagicM
    Quote:

    EDIT: financially, did Crimea think this through?

    Russia's GDP per capita is roughly the equivalent of 400% of Ukraine's GDP per capita. The neighbouring Bulgaria and Romania, which are both part of the European Union, have about twice the GDP per capita compared to the Ukraine.

    That said, it's obviously more complicated than this.


    Crimea's income, a majority of it, comes from the Ukraine.
  • »18.03.14 - 16:16
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2242 from 2003/2/24
    Quote:

    TheMagicM wrote:
    This is hardly the Hitler situation as in Germany of years ago.



    [ignore Godwins law]

    If Hitler had hold a ballot in the Sudeten-areas he would have gotten a clear vote for it to join Germany.

    When he did hold a rigged ballot in Austria he got a clear mandate (which is funny considering he would have easily also gotten it in a fair election).

    [/ignore Godwins law]
  • »18.03.14 - 17:50
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    ASiegel wrote:
    @ Jim
    Quote:

    If the US had stayed out of WWII, there would be a lot more people speaking German and Japanese today.

    Is speaking either Japanese or German an inherently bad thing?



    Obviously not. I have repeatedly tried to pick up a few phrases from friends.
    I probably should not keep using WWII references as part of these exchanges.

    Andre, since Crimea relies on the rest of the Ukraine for goods and services (food, utilities, etc), are you sure they have thought this out?

    And while I know you tend to try to be fair handed, are the Russian's trustworthy?
    Do they deserve your usual level of deference?

    [ Edited by Jim 18.03.2014 - 17:39 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »18.03.14 - 18:10
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  • Moderator
    hooligan
    Posts: 1948 from 2003/2/23
    From: Lahti, Finland
    First shot soldier. Here we go again :/
    www.mikseri.net/hooligan <- Free music
  • »18.03.14 - 18:31
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    First shot, Russian, one Ukrainian soldier down.

    Still want to give them the benefit of the doubt?

    Oh yeah, I forgot, the masked solders "aren't" Russian.

    Shame on all of you on the wrong side of this.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »18.03.14 - 22:52
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    TheMagicM
    Posts: 1217 from 2003/6/17
    Quote:

    Jim wrote:
    First shot, Russian, one Ukrainian soldier down.

    Still want to give them the benefit of the doubt?

    Oh yeah, I forgot, the masked solders "aren't" Russian.

    Shame on all of you on the wrong side of this.


    I'm not giving benefit of doubt, I'm saying that if Crimea says they want to go with Russia..what can the Ukraine do about it? Nothing. So who does that leave? NATO. Who is NATO? USA thats who. We get sent out because we're badasses. I know that. But I think some countries need to stick up for themselves.

    From here on out...if I was UA, I would build up my nuclear arsenal.
  • »19.03.14 - 01:12
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    hooligan
    Posts: 1948 from 2003/2/23
    From: Lahti, Finland
    Quote:

    TheMagicM wrote:
    From here on out...if I was UA, I would build up my nuclear arsenal.


    Good idea. Every country should have some nuclear weapons. It would solve _all_ problems, eventually.
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  • »19.03.14 - 05:36
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    takemehomegrandma
    Posts: 2720 from 2003/2/24
    Quote:

    TheMagicM wrote:

    I'm not giving benefit of doubt, I'm saying that if Crimea says they want to go with Russia..


    But did "they" really do that?

    And what if some vague majority in, say, North Dakota, Montana or Minnesota suddenly and completely one-sided would say, "Hey, we want to belong to Canada now", holding a summary referendum a week later with two options; "1. Yes", and "2. Well, kind of Yes", and Canada starts moving in some army units to support this "transition" by blocking and taking over US military installations, do you really believe the rest of the USA would say "OK, if they want it, let them have it their way". No. It doesn't work that way, not anywhere in the world, and it's not the first time, nor the last time, that some region in a country wants to "break free" or wants to be adopted by another nation. And again - did they (the Crimea population) really want to do it?


    Quote:

    what can the Ukraine do about it? Nothing.


    And nobody else can/will do anything either, other than perhaps putting up trade/travel/diplomatic/financial embargo's etc, but nobody will go military against Russia. Not Ukraine, not Nato, not USA.


    Quote:

    So who does that leave? NATO. Who is NATO? USA thats who.


    Well, USA and 27 other nations, each equally bound by the same treaty.

    http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/nato_countries.htm

    USA may spend the most resources on its military, but it's far from the only one within NATO with a potent military force. And it's especially Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty that makes Nato a such a powerful defense alliance. Had Ukraine been a NATO member, then I doubt Russia would have done this move, not only because USA is a Nato member, but because such a move would have been considered as an Attack on all 28 nations, who would be bound by the treaty to act and come to Ukraine's aid (war).


    Quote:

    We get sent out because we're badasses. I know that. But I think some countries need to stick up for themselves.


    You really don't seem to understand that whenever your military is deployed in various countries, in various conflicts (or even *initiating* conflicts), it's *only* because your government believes it is within USA's best interest to do so. And frankly, you don't have anything to say about it (well, you can *talk* about it, like you do here ;-)).

    Never has the USA come to aid another NATO member (there hasn't been a need to do so), and the fact is that only *one single time* has the Article 5 in the NATO treaty been invoked, and that was per USA request after the 9/11 attack, where the other NATO members rallied to help USA by deploying troops to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF.


    Quote:

    From here on out...if I was UA, I would build up my nuclear arsenal.


    In 1991 (after the Soviet Union collapse), Ukraine had the third largest strategic nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. With its 1,900 warheads, the arsenal was larger than those of Britain, France, and China combined. In spring 1994 they began shipping the nukes to Russia for dismantling, and in 1996 they became a nuke-free nation when the last warhead left the country.

    In return for giving up its nuclear weapons, Ukraine, the United States of America, Russia, and the United Kingdom signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, pledging to respect Ukraine territorial integrity, a pledge that was arguably broken by Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine
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  • »19.03.14 - 10:00
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  • Jim
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    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    Quote:

    hooligan wrote:
    Quote:

    TheMagicM wrote:
    From here on out...if I was UA, I would build up my nuclear arsenal.


    Good idea. Every country should have some nuclear weapons. It would solve _all_ problems, eventually.



    Bad idea. Even those that have them don't want to use them, although being dead does solve _all_ problems, eventually.

    And what does a bogus Crimean referendum have to do with a military occupation of another country and the killing of one of that countries' soldiers?

    You people are incorrigible. Since when does the desire to see the sovereignty of another nation respected by other nations relate to how much of a "badass" you are?
    We're not the nation pointing the guns, we've tried diplomacy.

    So they are now killing Ukrainian soldiers and some of you still want to justify Russian actions?

    Pathetic.

    Quote:

    takemehomegrandma wrote:

    In 1991 (after the Soviet Union collapse), Ukraine had the third largest strategic nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. With its 1,900 warheads, the arsenal was larger than those of Britain, France, and China combined. In spring 1994 they began shipping the nukes to Russia for dismantling, and in 1996 they became a nuke-free nation when the last warhead left the country.

    In return for giving up its nuclear weapons, Ukraine, the United States of America, Russia, and the United Kingdom signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, pledging to respect Ukraine territorial integrity, a pledge that was arguably broken by Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine


    Proof positive the Russians cannot be trusted.

    Ah well, at least the majority of us live under mutual protection.



    [ Edited by Jim 19.03.2014 - 10:24 ]
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »19.03.14 - 11:14
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