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That’s a narrative constructed to ignore the previous past of Russia during Stalin’s expansion of the Soviet Union and blame NATO as an aggressor. It ignores how countries in places like the Baltics became Soviet satellites (or why Russia was fighting a war in Finland before fighting the Nazis). The Russians aggressively annexed those nations under the guise of protecting the smaller nations against the European great powers. Once done it immediately moved to a policy of Russification something plainly evident as still policy in Ukraine with things like changing the spelling of a Nations capital (we all grew up recognizing it as Kiev until they gained independence) along with a host of brutal actions against the native populations. Russian authority’s in Putins group don’t view things like Latvia as some aggressive preemption by NATO to invade them, they view it as it and other nations maneuvering away from some perverse “rightful position” as vassals to the greater Russian motherland. This whole “view it from their perspective,” is fine. But let’s not pretend they base that perspective on reality. It’s like asking a Japanese citizen today about why we dropped the bomb. They’ll have a lot to talk about, but somehow things like Nanking or Saipan propaganda causing mass civilian suicide isn’t going to be part of the discussion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do I think Ukraine should exist as a country? If they can keep it, yes. If they can't, then no. Thats the answer I'd give regardless of the nation in question. The Aztecs no longer exist because they could not keep their country, communist Cuba still exists (where I just came from) because they resisted us successfully. Whether I think a place should exist is irrelevant, it can or cannot based upon its merits. As a practical matter, I do not think we should continue supporting Ukraine financially at the scale we are because I believe it is a bad investment. Germany is the richest country in Europe, why are we doing so much more than them despite them being closer to the threat? The simple answer is they don't feel threatened by Putin which should cause us to reconsider our own conclusions. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is terrible. It has created massive human suffering and death. They are brutal. However, I am personally unconvinced it is more than a regional dispute, and I don't think it's good policy for us to get involved in every regional dispute. Also, there is value in being able to understand your adversaries position. 99% of people blathering about Russian misinformation every time grown-ups try have a serious discussion are simply retarded. "The first casualty in war is truth" is an ancient concept. I get it, there's bullshit on every side, words are weapons, etc. But if you cannot hear a different perspective because you are convinced it is acidic enemy propaganda that will poison your resolve, you are an idiot and your opinion is unworthy of further consideration. We have those people posting here, who claim a self-righteous halo for their willful blindness. People who don't question their own assumptions while being sure other positions are wrong, who insist there's a morale obligation to act regardless of consequences because it's worth the risk even though we don't fully understand the risk, certainly we don't owe citizens a COA analysis but of course we're doing this for democracy, and if it doesn't appear to be working just shut up and keep doing it! Eerily similar to what our country saw during Covid, BLM, climate "crisis" .... but I'm sure that's just a coincidence and not an indication we are being manipulated for political reasons.

Putin points at military encroachment by NATO, but the reality is that the NATO force posture is a skeleton of what it was in 1991 and poses absolutely no physical threat to Russia. If Putin was really worried about NATO military power on his border, he would quit threatening his neighbors. What scares Putin is the people in former Soviet “republics” have a pretty fierce independence streak, have no problem highlighting former Soviet/Russian threats and atrocities, and want to pursue Western style democratic governance, so much so that they have run Russian supported leaders out of their countries (e.g. Yanukovych). The growing (but not complete) success of these countries poses an existential threat not to Russia, but to Putin himself as Russians might see the benefit of reform in their own country. Luckily for Putin, he has a ton of power, no conscience, and no problem offing as many people as it takes to maintain power. To the previous comments about Russia doing better on the battlefield than is being reported - this is a bogus argument. No one is winning. Ukraine knows that they can’t give up territory every five years when Russia needs to scratch an itch, and Putin can’t be seen backing down to a country that is a fraction of its size. Russia has sustained high losses and had their most competent battlefield formation, a band of mercenaries, make a run on Moscow. This is going to continue to be ugly and stalemated, and the big losers are the civilians caught in the middle. The reason people argue over issues like this so much is that they seek a good outcome. There are no good outcomes; only “least worst” outcomes. The U.S. has no authority and little ability to “end” this war without military engagement. Any U.S. negotiated settlement that cedes Ukrainian territory will not be agreed to by the Ukrainians and will be seen as 21st century Munich Agreement style appeasement. Ask the Czechs how they feel about that. The U.S. primary goals should be no engagement by/risk to U.S. personnel, a sustained cease fire, weakened Russian influence in the region/world, and Putin remaining in control of Russia (the idiot you know is better than the idiot you don’t, especially when nuclear weapons are involved.) Providing weapons to Ukraine supports these goals. The real policy question for Americans is if this is a priority among everything else; our country is slowly spending itself to death. In my mind, we are getting great value out of our Ukraine support and the only way to fix the budget is to fix entitlements, but I am not an economist and don’t pretend to be.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. You read that line and said to yourself, 'there it is right there'? I misunderstood what we were dealing with here. I thought it was somebody who was happy to turn a blind eye and go along with anything if it happened to support a bias of theirs. Upon closer inspection it's not willful ignorance, but substandard cognitive and comprehension ability. My mistake, bless your heart. You, specifically, are good to continue reading only the first paragraph of Slaynews articles. Carry on.

Covid's gay! That is all.

Do you make a habit of reading the first paragraph of every Slaynews article and stopping there? Funny that they recognize their clientele is so helplessly stupid that simply embedding hyperlinks into their stories will give enough appearance of legitimacy to do the job. 'Our clientele will assume there's a mountain of bullet proof anti-vax dogma behind those links, so it wouldn't matter if they all pointed towards yourethemannowdog.com'. Why don't follow the link they provide to their source for this admission in order to see that it is literally fabricated out of thin air? For a group that demands so much 'accountability' from the vaccine Gestapo, you certainly have low standards elsewhere. Did you stop reading your T.O. when you got past the first paragraph that said nothing within the document precluded the operator from deviating from procedures for safety of flight considerations? It's fucking scary that people with this level of discernment are trusted to operate complicated machinery.

I spent time in Enid lol

I had tattoos during my OTS board, thank God they stopped shirtless applications the year before I joined (lol). Just dont get a dick tattooed on your face and you should be fine. Face tattoos and to a lesser extent arm/hand tattoos dont look good during most interviews, whether its for Jack and the Box or OTS.

USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park is thankful to have received a generous donation of two aircraft made by the legendary singer and Mobile native, Jimmy Buffett. When the aircraft first arrived at the park, in 2022, Buffett wished to remain an anonymous donor. As the world mourns his passing, we are pleased to finally be able to share his generous contributions to the park. The Grumman Goose and Boeing Stearman are both on display in the Medal of Honor Aircraft Pavilion. Visitors will see a wreath and an iconic Hawaiian-styled shirt that has been placed by the Grumman Goose in honor of Buffett.

Do you? https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/covid-19-variant.html

I've spent time in Germany. It's true.

especially with the amount of OCV those old farts have available to burn every year at their tenure. but I along with many in the younger crowd say F these guys. They’re a bunch of greedy MFers that don’t seem to remember how good.... Nice. Were you hired prior to 2008?

In Russia's eyes NATO has been encroaching on them for decades despite promises not to, and they started this war to prevent Ukraine from further aligning with the west and threatening them. Additionally the area they invaded are full of ethnic Russians who claim mistreatment by Ukraine. you asked the question so I'm answering it, not endorsing Russian actions. Although I would add that my non-US friends are quick to point out that a preemptive invasion to deter a threat to their homeland.... is exactly what the US did to Iraq. my opinion: we need to end the war in Ukraine. It would involve Ukraine giving up territory. That sucks. However, that is preferable to me than getting the US involved in war against Russia to settle a regional dispute.

Was that ROBERTA? Lol Cool video though.

Looked damn tough tonight!

Nobody cares where you went to school. Personally, I see an applicant with a degree from WGU, or something similar, and I give them credit for making a sound financial decision instead of wasting massive amounts of $ at a liberal seminary. Great scores on your pilot and PCSM as well. You should have some really cool stories to tell at an interview about racing cars. Good luck.

Just go out on a witch hunt in order to give out an Article 15…oh wait, you don’t have that authority. Air Force got something right. By the way, are you aware of any commander who made a list of people who weren’t wearing masks when ordered, and then when the vaccine became mandatory, checked it against IMR status?…and then gave out Article 15 to said members? If you wanted and were willing to do something so draconian that not even a handful of actual commanders carried out, well, then like I said…the Air Force actually got something right.

Nice use of ALSA comm brevity.

A guy on YouTube posted a poll of whether or not you'd prefer NCAA FB to be the way it will be in 2027, or 2007. A full 75% of around 15,000 voters chose the latter. I don't like where it is going, but the schools have to do what they can if they want to remain relative. I say this as a Florida State graduate and fan whose school is looking to get private equity to buy out their contract with the ACC. I think this realignment will simply make the Big 2 a version of what the NFL is. And I don't really care for that. Will I keep watching? Absolutely, but in the last 10 years six teams won a NC, from 2000-2010 it was eight. That might not sound like a big difference, but it is. Also, >>>--GO-NOLES-;;-> We've recently made a run in the recruiting race and are now number three if I recall correctly.

Cuba has resisted us well after the USSR fell. Like them or not (I don't) they've earned it. and I'm not saying it's "fine" that Russia invaded, I'm saying there's a limit to how much I'm willing to help the Ukrainians. A financial limit but certainly I'm unwilling to send my son to die there (which is not unthinkable). Sure sovereignty matters, but why is the US always doing heavy lifting while making ourselves broke? this is more nuanced than your characterization implies, and that's what's frustrating about this (and many) political debates nowadays.

I can't say this to you any more clearly... Eat a giant bag of dicks.

The point my friend is to illustrate how easily people are manipulated to jump 100% on whatever cause the media declares. It’s not necessarily a proxy, but there is definitely a common thread between Ukraine die hards and COVID die hards

that's fine, just dont tell me it's possible for ukraine to defeat russia in a long, protracted conflict. THAT is fantasy land and ignores the long russian tradition of starting slow, then rumbling to a brutal victory.

sure that's how YOU see it. i assure you putin disagrees. how hard of a fucking concept is that for you PME educated people to grasp? it's not about your viewpoint or your truth. jfc people.

bull. fucking. shit. we're paying the god damn salaries of the Ukrainian government FFS! don't tell me we have no leverage to end it.

Pretty sure Germany isn't paying as much because, despite being the richest country in Europe, they're way behind the US. And then there's also the fact that seems overlooked in all these conversations...most of what we're giving them is weapons and ammo, something we have WAY more of than Germany. Ironically, the reason most of NATO has so little to give is because NATO never expected to fight Russia, let alone invade them. Most of Europe was winding down military spending in favor of social spending, and getting into business with Russia...something Romney and Trump saw, and got ridiculed for at the time.