Jets flying from the West oddly bear a far eastern flag.

Invade Ukraine from the west under the same BS pretenses

A key pipeline Russian pipeline suddenly falls over.

Zelensky's next appearance is next to a nuclear bomb that Ukr forgot to hand over.

Yeah war isn't about good vs bad choices; war is choosing between bad and worse.

8 hours ago, commando said:

she was the last of the WNBA players left over there.  many of them play in the russian league for more money when the WNBA is in it's off season

they went over there before the war.  Apparently an arrested Griner was able to phone into court Friday.  https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2022/03/05/brittney-griner-former-wife-glory-johnson-spar-over-child-support/83039942/

8 hours ago, teachercd said:

It would shock me to plant drugs on a WNBA player unless they just have no idea how amazing unpopular the WNBA is in America. 

 

I am mulling over how effective of a hostage she would be. 

5 hours ago, Lorewarn said:

 

 

 

Not blocking a non-free speech source of state controlled propaganda isn't exactly being a champion of free speech.

That is the perfect example of the principle of free speech. The only thing Musk disallowed was a double negative. 

11 hours ago, Stumpy1 said:

Oil and Gas isn't dying and it never will. 

'Clean energy' is the future, and always will be. 

And if you thought sanctions made your life awkward. 

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2022/03/05/brittney-griner-phoenix-mercury-arrested-russia-charges/9390760002/

Wed 27 Jan 2021 15.18 EST 

Quote

The slew of executive actions direct the Department of the Interior to pause new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters and launch a “rigorous review of all existing leasing”, according to a White House planning document.

....

The orders also establish an environmental justice interagency council to address the racial and economic inequities exacerbated by climate change and air and water pollution. 

...

In all, the climate package is a strong repudiation of the Trump administration, which consistently sidelined or derided climate science, dismantled policies designed to lower emissions and withdrew from the Paris climate deal.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/27/joe-biden-climate-change-executive-orders

Quote

SALT LAKE CITY (March 24, 2021) – Today, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined a lawsuit to block Biden Administration’s plan to suspend oil and gas leases on federal land in Utah.  https://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/utah-sues-to-stop-biden-oil-gas-lease-ban/

 

Not even two weeks old 

Quote

Biden halts oil, gas leases amid legal fight on climate cost

The Biden administration is delaying decisions on new federal oil and gas drilling and other energy-related actions.

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

February 22, 2022, 2:52 PM

• 5 min read  https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/biden-halts-oil-gas-leases-amid-legal-fight-83047602

Arguing that Biden was always the energy production President is as honest as saying that he sent arms to Ukraine the first time.  the only thing Biden is getting right is that he has partially come around to two of Trump's policies, for now. 

1 hour ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

This is what I have said he wanted all along but then he was doing way more damage to the northern areas than I thought he would for a mere distraction, and then in the past few days I've started to think he actually is going to try to take all of Ukraine. Maybe that is his plan now, who knows.

But I would give in and recognize Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk if I was Ukraine. I'm not Ukrainian of course, but Russia and the so-called separatists have had the majority of that territory for years now. If Ukraine ever thought they were going to get it back, they would have taken it already.

Does UKR have an armored division outside of EBay?  Russia has a long thin column that cannot move.  What better target can a defender strategically dream of?

As for wheeling and dealing.  I don't think Russia will believe in any deal that leaves Kiev out of their grasp.  The Tsars took it 500 years ago and always believed it was their territory.  

also Putin would probably accept some kind of Maginot line at his borders, meaning Russia could just start again at the next open window. 

This is neat https://liveuamap.com/

9 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

You must not realize how many oil leases Biden has sold since taking office. 

Biden tried to stop the leases that had already been agreed upon and lost.  It was a repeat of Obama-Biden where they stopped drilling on public land and then tried to take credit for the drilling on private land (which they couldn't stop). 

7 hours ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

Well he succeeded. Nuclear is a heavy part of my portfolio and it looks like I'm about to be down 15-20% today. 

With whom can one buy nuclear stock anymore?  A uranium mining co?

7 hours ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

Russians now shooting rockets at Europes largest nuclear power plant. God these guys suck.

Victor Davis Hanson was on last night.  He speculated that because nuclear is a competing energy source to oil and gas, Putin wants people to think it is dangerous and unreliable. 

16 hours ago, nic said:

Zelenskyy for president. Can’t help but root for this guy. 

Is the US still importing Russian oil or did we quit? We don’t need to import energy from anyone if we don’t want to. We could export to the countries that are dependent on Russia. We may have been able to do this somewhat quickly a few years ago. May as well put it in place now because Russia isn’t going to stop.

 

 

Biden appears to be  getting around to an energy ban but it's about two years too late anyway.  Russia won't be filling tankers any time soon and China will buy their oil. The more interesting question is will Biden tell the left wing of his party "No. We are going drill our own oil in lieu of 'clean' energy."   I am not optimistic. 

15 hours ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Putin's goals were also smaller in the invasion of Crimea, the "takeover" was covert and their was little bloodshed. A person sitting in the states or any other country could legitimately rationalize that part of that population wanted to be part of Russia. The takeover was still wrong, still an act of war, but it wasn't a crisis like this. 

 

What he is doing now is trying to subjugate an entire nation and wipe their existence off the map, against their will. He is committing acts of terror on a minute by minute basis. Killing innocents, and destroying infrastructure. This is war, it is an act of evil. 

 

This is the difference between 2014 and now, in my mind. 

A lot of those "Russian separatists" where put there by Putin with the intent to subvert Ukraine.  It's kind of like Americans entering Texas when it was still part of Mexico.  

I think the difference is that the West was simply caught asleep at the wheel.  There were few battles fought between the invaders and fewer weapons being sent from the West. 

7 hours ago, Danny Bateman said:

 

Nice of Trump to let Lindsey out of his kennel and have him do a party trick for everyone. Hopefully he gave him a treat afterward. 

 

If saying "hey don't do that" counts as good policy with regards to Russia, well, shoot, the Biden adminstration has been doing that since December and has been regularly releasing intelligence outlining Russia's plans before they played out.

The actual pattern is that the Ds admit something they had spent months denying.

“I was at the State Department, the President was the vice president the last time Russia invaded Ukraine, this is a pattern of horror from President Putin and the cronies around him,” Psaki said. In 2014, Putin attempted an invasion of Ukraine as well, albeit not the full-scale invasion that the country is experiencing currently.

All week long it was impossible to find a D that would admit Putin advances when he perceives weakness from POTUS.  Now the cat is out of the bag and you will have to ignore the issue. 

9 hours ago, Stumpy1 said:

I don’t know about you guys but I sure am supporting the Iranians in this war against Russia.  

I thought biden was speaking of a race of nuclear mutants, the Uraniums.

4 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Seriously dude, are you Putin or Lavrov? I do find it interesting that you largely disappeared for months then pop back up as soon as Trumputin needed a mouthpiece in here. I didn't think Huskerboard was large/ important enough to warrant infiltration, but weren't you also the one who looked up and knew exactly how many posts were required on the main board before you could post in P&R? 

 

 

No

I P&R during national elections, but thought the potential outbreak of WW3 warranted an exception

No

4 minutes ago, teachercd said:

What would be the uproar, if any, if the US sent in the military? 

 

 

 

 

None at first.  Until the casualty reports started coming in regularly and the war supporters claim they were against it when they were for it. 

38 minutes ago, commando said:

this is a war crime.  read the whole thread

 

 

If the UKR plan is to use the rubble as urban defensive cover then plan on a lot more of that.  They are all military targets now.

6 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

What?   CNN isn’t bothering with the SOTU?  I literally watched it on CNN. 

The post speech analysis: they talked the about the subjects like UKR but barely mentioned the speech itself.  Within 5 minutes it sounded like just any old daily pravda.  And I can understand that because it was a boring and largely off-topic speech.  Many believe it had been written two weeks ago and they didn't trust Biden to handle a last minute rewrite. 

3 hours ago, commando said:

not sure how many know this...but the official soviet newspaper was called "Pravda"   the english translation was "truth"

One of our fansites labels ND's Spring Practice Reports as "Daily Pravda."

6 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

A couple semi-valid points tucked in there, but for the record Putin is not invading Western Ukraine, he is marching to Kviv to depose its democratically-elected leader and take over the country. Proportionally, this is worse than anything Europe has seen since World Ward II according to pretty much everyone but you. 

6 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Technically, the previous administration had committed to terms for our withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years. Technically, Russia preferred to have Donald Trump as the U.S. president and NATO didn't, for reasons that should be obvious to everyone. Technically, Europe has agreed to both sanctions and lots of armed support. Technically, Biden got on board with supporting the Ukranian fighters well before the fight; the guy you voted for is still rooting for the bad guys, while the rest of the GOP has put its wet finger in the air, noticing how bad their pro-Russia narrative is looking. 

You don't seem to read my posts before replying to them so it's not surprising that you also have no idea about the Republican position.  Trump sent weapons to Russia's enemies.  (Biden sent blankets)  That isn't a pro-Russia position.  When someone does that to US, he qualifies as a terrorist. 

Note the date on this report https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-warns-putin-through-senator-no-normal-relationship-with-future-president-if-russia-invades-ukraine

If anything good comes out of this, it will be that Biden has at least temporarily adopted some of Trump's policy positions such as sending arms to Eastern European allies and ramping up domestic energy.

2 hours ago, Danny Bateman said:

 

Yeah I mean his only other notable move was Afghanistan which was the correct choice but poorly executed. A mixed bag for sure considering that but so far he's nailing this.

 

Stitching the West back together after Trump preferred division and nationalism was critical. The band is back together and we have offered a very stiff, united penalty for Putin's misconduct. We're punishing them to the maximum practical extent without directly entering the fray and risking a much larger, more dangerous conflict.

 

Coordinating joint action between everyone is a tough job. Everyone has to be on the same page or the most effective stuff won't get agreed upon because this country or that disagreed. He's done a good job being our counterpart for that and helping rally other countries to get on board. Stuff like kicking Russia out of SWIFT, closing much of the world's airspace and sanctioning not only their private banks but the central bank are incredibly impactful. It may not stop Russia's current plans but they're now completely isolated from the free world.

You are true to the core.  We are not going to agree on much of anything so I can only offer running comments.
 

We were chased out of Afghanistan and our equipment was captured. It was a catastrophe. 

On the West/NATO, I've read that Obama/Biden reunified the alliances after Bush/Trump weakened them.  But I'm not sure what that means.  They clearly prefer to deal with Biden because he will not push them to spend more on their military. Europe is agreeing to sanctions on top of sanctions but are really wishy washy on the armed support, as is Biden.  

Biden got on board with supporting the Ukranian fighters; very late.  He is a rusty weathervane moving after everyone else felt the winds of change.

13 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

I think if I was the president of the U.S. I would follow the other NATO countries' lead here about getting involved. It should have to be okay with all of the NATO countries which border Belarus or Russia, since they are the most in danger.

I originally signed up to Huskerboard to warn you what would happen if you joined that conference. 

7 minutes ago, Danny Bateman said:

 

Can't afford to fixate on what's done and live in the past. I'm older and wiser now and what we're doing is exactly what we should be doing if we're determined to help Ukraine while blunting the likelihood of WW3. He touted himself and someone who made his bones in foreign policy and he's handled this masterfully so far. It's a complete 180 from Trump's complete inability to rally our allies which is incredibly welcome, for me at least.

 

More to the point, this is one of the most clear-cut distillations of good vs. evil and right vs. wrong on the world stage in my lifetime. Sometimes just doing the right thing regardless of outcome is underrated.

An actual reply.  you are saying that while Biden may have erred in the past but he is getting it right now?  Can you please give me an example or two of what Biden has done that is working?

Back to today, it is starting to look like the Winter War between Russia and Finland.  Russia won but looked so incompetent that various other powers thought the nation was a hollow shell. Fox analysts say that despite logistical problems, the Russian convoy will have Kiev surrounded fairly soon. 

CNN isn't really bothering with that SOTU so I won't either.  

Tell me loyal Ds.  If you are outraged by Putin's invasion of Western Ukraine in 2022 then why wasn't Obama-Biden angry about Putin's invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014?  Proportionally you should have been half as mad.  But it got 5 minutes of news coverage,  centered on Obama's complaining about toxic masculinity. 

3 hours ago, Born N Bled Red said:

Also In:

 

Mexico will not apply economic sanctions to Russia. A quick google search shows that Putin et al. have been cozying up to the new Mexican president for some time, engaged in the same election meddling tactics there, and have hosted the Mexican President in Russia (no one is the same after going to Russia- ask Lindsay Graham.)

 

https://mexicobusiness.news/policyandeconomy/news/how-russia-mexico-relationship-breaking-new-ground

 

https://lacrus.org/2021/04/29/russia-and-mexico-a-new-round-of-interaction/?lang=en

 

During the Cold War Russia's spies were based in Mexico City. Perhaps they are reformenting that relationship against the US. 

 

At this point I'm willing to include alienating the US relationship with Mexico as another deliverable Trump was to provide Putin so that Russia could cozy up to our Southern neighbors. 

I don't think you want to go there.  Obama Biden didn't make one good decision on Russia. But for all the misteps, Biden managed to undue  50 years of geopolitics and let Russia and China be closer together than either is to us. The magnitude cannot be estimated.

6 hours ago, TGHusker said:

 

Older Russian MIGs  from other former Soviet bloc states like Poland.  I hope they are able to bomb the hell out of that 40 mile convey on the way back from Poland. 

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/28/ukrainian-pilots-arrive-in-poland-to-pick-up-donated-fighter-jets-00012560

I think if UKR could bomb they would have struck already.  The armored convoy is/was reportedly stalled due to a lack of fuel.   Ideally they could cut the supply line from behind.

3 hours ago, commando said:

i don't know how fighter jets will help unless they are jets that the ukranian pilots have training for, have airfields to use them from, crews to rearm, refuel, and repair them, and have ordnance for them.     drones would be very effective if that is what they mean by fighter jets

The tweets say they are sending Russian migs that they are familiar with.  But there does not seem to be any video of a Ukrainian air strike.  That armored convoy looks like a prime target for any air force.

3 hours ago, JJ Husker said:

I wouldn’t call them ineffective. Sure they aren’t direct military intervention but sanctions, to the extent that are being done now, could be very effective and possibly relatively quickly.

 

They might not dissuade Putin right away. He would have to care about his country and people more then he appears to. But I guarantee they matter to his people, the countries business interests, the rich oligarchs and yes even the Russian mob. If you think he’s not feeling the pressure to back down from all those groups and the international community? They absolutely could stop an advancing column if the right people get to him or if he ever grew a conscience.

 

Since you seem less than impressed with the sanctions, what is your solution?

Russia gets her money from selling oil.  That oil must travel a great distance.  What if a central nexus or two suddenly fell into a sinkhole?

43 minutes ago, commando said:

check their stock market and the value of a ruble today compared to before sanctions.  the effects have been harsh and fast.

 

I meant for sanctions to work politically and change policy it takes a long time.  The immediate harm to Russia's banking system is not stopping the armored convoy they sent to Kiev.

4 hours ago, funhusker said:

So what did you mean by this?  Did you want less than sanctions?

Sanctions require a lot of time to work, if they work at all, Russia seems to always be under sanctions. They are  ineffective after the war started.  But the media spoke of economic sanctions like they were a military manuever.

4 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

Turns out a lot of "Russian" vodka isn't made in Russia.  Stoli is made in Latvia, which hates Russia more than anyone. 

 

They have pledged their support of Ukraine on their website.

 

 

Read the fine print in the liquor store, almost no Russian vodka is there.  

7 hours ago, funhusker said:

So are you for troops or not?

 

Because your post I originally responded to sure seemed like the US and NATO weren’t doing enough.  Troops are pretty much the only thing they haven’t done.

I'm not afraid to say 'I don't know.'. I suspect Putin might back off like Khrushchev did in Cuba at the prospect of real world war, but maybe not.