Posts Tagged ‘Ukraine’

Ukraine War Fallout: Toxic Masculinity & Microaggressions are SO last week

Posted: February 27, 2022 by datechguy in culture, war
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In peace we can make many of them ignore good and evil entirely; in danger, the issue is forced upon them in a guise to which even we cannot blind them. There is here a cruel dilemma before us. If we promoted justice and charity among men, we should be playing directly into the Enemy’s hands; but if we guide them to the opposite behaviour, this sooner or later produces (for He permits it to produce) a war or a revolution, and the undisguisable issue of cowardice or courage awakes thousands of men from moral stupor.

C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters #29

One of the most interesting side effects of the war in Ukraine is the sudden shift in the left on several things.

Last week the left was telling us that armed citizens are dangerous and no regular person needs a gun

This week the left suddenly deciding that civilians armed with military weapons as a good thing.

Last week “Toxic Masculinity” was a curse that universities needed to purge using tools like Critical Race Theory to get this poison out of society.

This week the Masculinity of standing up to Tanks, Air Bombings and Fleets demanding surrender is something to produce awe and admiration.

Last week running away from Truckers who were honking horns at people was a good thing as US democrats overwhelmingly supported Trudeau

This week not running away from bombs etc and declaring “I don’t need a ride I need ammunition” is the template for how leaders should act.

This week you see everything from the Simpsons to Hollywood stars to members of congress celebrating the brave Ukrainian people.

But last week if you took the average Ukrainian now fighting the Russians, a white Christian who doesn’t believe in gay marriage, defines a woman by her sex and if asked tells you there is only two genders in the US, those same people celebrating them today would demand they be cancelled and or fired from any public position they hold.

The optimist in me would like to say this is because reality tends to trump woke stupidity and the realty of an actual war causes one to brush aside all the foolishness that people insulated from danger embrace.

But the realist tells me that the left understands that the fall of Ukraine would be a disaster politically for the left and their message worldwide and so they will jump with enthusiasm to defend them. That is defend them rhetorically, not in person of course That’s just as well a person who needs counseling for microaggressions is not likely to cope with battlefield conditions.

BTW if you are a true believer in the whole woke canon and are shocked and disgusted by this sudden volta face of the elites and their followers have no fear. Once the war is over and the danger to Ukraine the left’s political viability is past, all of those things that they are now celebrating will once again be beyond the pale.

Unexpectedly of course.

A Dozen Hard Facts Concerning Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Posted: February 26, 2022 by datechguy in war
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Fact 1: We aren’t going to do anything beyond loud noises (and Russia knows this)

The Biden all but invited the Russians to take pieces of Ukraine and Putin took him up on it. With the weak response given to his initial moves Putin knows that if he wants the whole shebang the time to take it is now not only because Biden is weak but more importantly he understands the 2nd fact in play…

Fact 2: We couldn’t do anything even if we wanted to at this point. (and Russia knows this)

It takes time to mobilize troops, to gather munitions, to send them places and to have all the logistical means to fight a war. To do it right takes months, to do it fast takes weeks. None of this prep work has been done so if somehow we decided Ukraine was worth fighting for Putin knows he has a MINIMUM of a three week window to finish the job to the point where he would have a fait accompli meaning we would have to literally counter invade. Even if it was possible that we might get our machinery of war moving Putin understands a more basic fact concerning us…

Fact 3: We are not culturally prepared to do anything. (and Russia knows this) Our post Christian ME society is not up to the task of fighting a war with Russia, the people very happy to answer Ukraine’s call to send angry tweets to Russia but when it comes to actually standing up against aggression, hell we aren’t willing to stop people from burning our own cities. Putin knows this but there is something he knows even more…

Fact 4: The only enemy our Military Leaders are Prepared to Fight are Conservatives: (And Russia knows this) Ethan Saunders might have been speaking tongue in cheek when he said: “Our military leaders will run away at the first sign of a microaggression or a misgendering. This isn’t the same kind of war their 2 mommies fought in.” but the reality is that the leadership of our Military has been pretty much at war not only with severing members of the Armed Forces but with those who would normally be the primary candidates to enter the military service. They are ready to go after conservatives on CNN or Twitter but to face Russia in battle? Forget it Of course the Russians aren’t surprised by this because…

Fact 5: All of this is by design (and Russia knows this) Our foes figured out long ago that there was no way they were going to outspend us so instead of trying to outdo us on the weapons side they invested in people, our people, professors to teach our children that America was evil, and/or not fighting for, environmentalists (green on the outside red on the inside) to make the idea of energy production something evil and all kinds of activists to attack the family , religion and all the things that make a strong society. And of course they bought people, pols and reporters and the fruits of these investments both long term and short are now coming into play. They know the US isn’t coming and without the west almost nobody is coiming.

Fact 6: The Biggest Danger to the Russians are the Poles: (And Russia knows this) The reason the last section says “almost” is the Pols. The Pols have a long history of enmity with Russia not only a ton of it in the last hundred years but much more that goes back centuries . The Pols have resisted the EU trying to go after their Catholic faith and impose the culture wars on them. They know what it’s like to be subjected by Russia and have built an Army strong enough to keep it from happening even without NATO. If the Pols choose to mobilize every single dynamic that Putin is counting on changes.

Fact 7: Ukraine isn’t going to roll over either. The Ukrainians hate the Russians and the feeling is mutual Stalin did a number on them and because of that quite a few joined up with the Germans to fight Russia after they invaded. As demonstrated they are quite willing to fight and die rather than be subjugated and they are in a position to make the Russians pay a very high price to take and keep their country.

Fact 8: Protests not withstanding this isn’t going to be an unpopular war with Russians at the start. Ukraine was a part of the Russian Empire for a hundred years before the Soviets took over and I suspect most Russians consider this taking back what’s theirs. As long as the war doesn’t drag on too long and the price in bodies isn’t too high Putin will get away this this domestically. if the Ukrainians are able to hold on and make Russia and their proxy soldiers pay this could change.

Fact 9: Most Americas don’t understand how real war works. When my grandparents got here in 1906 it had been 40 years since the last full scale war on American soil and over two decades since the last serious Indian wars. It’s been 50 years or so since the last draft and we have young people whose concept of war are video games where the bodies fade away and you have automatic Ammo and food and don’t have to find a way to make sure your troops can eat, sleep and shit securely. Even if everything breaks Russia’s way it’s going to be a long hard slog to conquer 41 million people dead set against being conquered, particularly when they’re led by a guy who when offered help in getting out of the country answers: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Fact 10: In the end the Average American doesn’t Consider Ukraine worth fighting for. In the end there isn’t a huge Ukrainian population in America. There is no tie of religion and culture, there is very little interest in the county, most Americans couldn’t find it on a map. They are not a NATO ally and the only reason why the US has any obligations in this direct is Bill Clinton’s promise to defend them if they gave up their Nukes, proving once and for all that trusting Bill Clinton is still one of the dumbest things a person can do.

Fact 11: Everyone knows the easiest way to hurt Russia but the left opposes it The bottom line is the easiest way to hurt Russia is to ramp up energy production from Coal to Fracking to Pipelines to Nuclear. However the left as already noted is too invested in this so it will not happen.

Fact 12: We don’t know all the facts or the endgame Even forgetting that you never know what the spin from a war zone is from either side one must remember that the same press that insisted that Trump was in bed with Putin and has been lying to us concerning just about everything over the last several years is the primary source of our info. Lord Miles Routledge not withstanding take everything else you hear with a grain of salt. We don’t know Putin’s or Russia’s endgame nor do we know Ukraine’s endgame. With a competent intelligence agency and a strong President this would not be a good place to be in. With a weak president and an incompetent intelligence community it’s a recipe for disaster Doing the wrong thing for the sake of doing something is not better than doing nothing. What’s the best thing to do? I don’t know.

Five Putin, Biden Admin & Trudeau Thoughts Under the Fedora

Posted: February 25, 2022 by datechguy in Uncomfortable Truths, war
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I must confess I didn’t think Putin was going to be going beyond the moves into the two breakaway regions but then again given both Biden’s feckless response and the knowledge that the polling in the US is looking bad for the Democrats who enable him I guess he figured he better grab what he can now before the leadership in the US changes.

And you thought stealing a US election was going to bring back normalcy.

A lot of people are thinking Taiwan is next on the menu figuring that China might see things the same way as Putin, move while America is still weak. Of course it’s a lot harder. You’re talking a D-Day like invasion against a well armed foe that realizes it has nothing to lose by going all out. Additionally such a move is going to have an electric effect on Japan and I suspect China is not all that anxious for either a rearmed or a nuclear armed Japan deciding to calculate if a first strike is necessary.

And please don’t insult me with the “Japan doesn’t have nukes” stuff. Japan has all the technology and expertise to have nukes any time they want them. If they decide on Ash Wednesday (Mar 2nd) that they need nukes they’ll have them before Easter Sunday (April 17th). Of course they would be likely to go the Israel route of not admitting they have the bomb but rest assured if China scares them they will.

There have been a lot of dumb takes on Ukraine from their government asking people to send Russia mean tweets (yeah like Russia cares) to John Kerry worrying about the effect of climate change of this war to worries about the vaccine status of people escaping bombs, however if you had to pick the single most ironic it was Justin Trudeau grandstanding on how Canada would stand firm against Authoritarianism.

Given his actions of the last month this broke irony meters everywhere but I suspect Justin was delighted to have the eyes of the world someplace other than Canada.

Apparently Trudeau’s had picked Senate (70% Trudeau appointed) was going to reject his emergency extension that every member of his party voted for just a few days ago. Additionally the harm to Canadian banks by the freezing of assets of those who dared expressed dissent put a bad taste in people’s mouths.

I think Canada, Truedau and the Banks that backed him up will discover it’s a lot easier to throw away trust and faith then it is to get it back once you’ve tossed it out the window.

Personally I think Any person who keeps money in a Canadian bank is a fool.

Finally let’s point out something that any person should know. Biden provided the funds for Putin’s invasion. As Walter Olsen (via Insty) put it:

Because fuel exports are the basis of the Russian economy, Putin’s war-making capability depends critically on energy prices being high, as they are now. The most effective step countries like the U.S. can take in response does not require sanctions, let alone military action. It’s simply to remove artificial constraints on energy production, especially on relatively clean natural gas. That means removing roadblocks to fracking, pipelines and LNG export facilities that could supply Europe.

The Biden’s Administration’s reaction to this invasion is basically a paraphrase of the episode Yes Prime Minister where the Israeli ambassador tells Jim Hacker that his foreign office in response to an invention by east Yemen: will “make strong diplomatic representations but do nothing” except our diplomatic representations will be weak.

I’ll give the last word to Glenn Reynolds:

 there’s more reason to think that environmentalists and other energy-deniers are on the Russian payroll than there ever was for Trump.

I’m sure Joe & Company got their cut.

Hello Iran: When people stop believing government lies they stop believing in the government

Posted: January 12, 2020 by John Ruberry in middle east, News/opinion
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Latvian Popular Front Leader Mavricks Vulfsons. Signs read “Freedom” and “1940–Year of Stalinist Occupation Regime”

By John Ruberry

Regular readers of my posts here and at Marathon Pundit know that my wife, Mrs. Marathon Pundit, was born in the Soviet Union–in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. She emigrated to the United States in 1991.

Mrs. Marathon Pundit was lied to regularly–just as citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been fed untruths since 1979.

As with other members of her generation, Mrs. MP believed the lies pumped out by the government, and that includes the schools, whoppers such as Soviet citizens enjoyed an advanced standard of living, even though Mrs. Marathon Pundit grew up in a farmhouse with no running water that was heated by birch logs. And Latvia was considered better off than most other Soviet Republics. She believed the falsehood that Latvia, along with Estonia and Lithuania, asked to join the USSR in 1940. The reality is that as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact the Baltic States were occupied by the Red Army and promptly annexed; the leaders of Latvia and Estonia were exiled to remote corners of the Soviet Union. The fate of Estonian president Konstantin Päts was particularly sad, as he was tortured in psychiatric hospitals because of his “persistent claiming of being the president of Estonia.”

Mrs. Marathon Pundit’s parents knew better of course. They also knew it was best to keep quiet. They knew repercussions awaited those who talked about the wrong things. The silent survive. And while it was impossible to cover up the deportations to Siberia of the Joseph Stalin era, the extent of it was known only to a few.

There were big lies and little lies. Here’s one of the latter. Before swimming in one of the few public pools in Latvia, Mrs. Marathon Pundit and other bathers were warned that if they chose to urinate in the water, or if there was an accidental leak, the urine would be immediately turn red and the pee menace would be promptly identified and of course punished. Eventually–I don’t know how–she discovered the clear truth on urinating in swimming pools.

Then there were the omissions. My wife didn’t learn until I told her that the Red Army–two weeks after the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939–seized eastern Poland. The same goes with the Soviet invasion of Finland later that year.

The “Throne of Lies” in the USSR began to collapse after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Ordinary Soviet citizens eventually learned that the state-controlled media reported on the severity of the catastrophe only after western governments noticed the spike in radioactivity in their lands. “The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month,” Mikhail Gorbachev wrote in 2006, “even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.”

Those being lied to didn’t believe the lies any more.

A few years earlier the end of the junta era of Argentina came after the government had to admit their rosy reports on the Falklands War with Great Britain were wrong. It was the UK that was winning nearly every battle.

Now protests are breaking out across Iran after the mullahs were forced to admit that the crash of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which took place on Wednesday shortly after Iran fired missiles at US troops in Iraq, was caused by a missile fired by the Iranian military, after first denying it. And there was a lie within the lie as the Iranians claimed that the passenger jet veered over a sensitive military area.

“They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” is one the chants heard in Tehran.

The people of Iran–or at least some of them–don’t believe the lies anymore.

Kimia Alizadeh, Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, defected last week. Yes, she did win a bronze in taekwando, that’s not a lie, but her state-created image was a sham. “Whatever they said, I wore,” Alizadeh wrote. “Every sentence they ordered, I repeated.”

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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