Posts by Matthew Young35

James Phillips92 said:Where are they supposed to stay? Maybe in military bases so your Russian buddies can hit them more easily?

Feel free to take the Russians off my hands; I have no use for them.

crimsoncyclist71 said:The AI report is nonsense and absurd. Its only real effect is providing ammunition to apologists for the Russian invasion. We're in the middle of brutal urban warfare, and now someone wants to highlight that those defending themselves are using civilian structures for cover? What exactly are they supposed to do? Walk out into an open field and wait to be hit? 🤦

I wouldn't, but then again, we shouldn't be complaining either when Russia strikes a shopping mall if there happen to be armored vehicles stationed inside.
War is a dirty business, but facts are facts.
I completely agree that the Russians need to be pushed back as hard as possible and driven out of Ukraine, but accusing someone of being pro-Russian simply because they state a difficult truth is wrong.

crimsoncyclist71 said:No one can convince me that Russia wouldn't target civilian sites regardless of where Ukrainians park their hardware. That logic is for children. They systematically level everything in their path. By that reasoning, Ukrainians would have to keep an armored vehicle in every single backyard on the Russian fascists' route. You actually believe that?

No, I simply trust the reports from Amnesty International stating that Ukrainians have used civilian sites for military purposes.
It is 99.99% certain that the Russians do the same.
I realize many people would love to believe in a world where lies are told and stories are spun about how Ukrainians fight without breaking a single "rule," but that isn't reality.
And yes, I believe the Russians would target civilian sites even if they didn't. But why attack Amnesty International if they are telling the truth?

Terry Green3 said:Noticing a lot of silence on this thread, but I should probably weigh in since this is such a massive talking point over in the West.
Thousands are walking out on Amnesty International because of that report regarding the war in Ukraine.

Even that little mercenary gang funded by big capital has shown up to join the fray. They played too much at being "flower children" before wandering off into some candy-coated, unicorn-filled fantasy land.

Between that and how much the British scum has been making my life difficult lately, this whole situation is becoming an absolute headache.

Do you honestly believe their report is fabricated?
Weren't photos released a while back showing Ukrainians using shopping malls to house armored vehicles?
The point isn't that people are lying or being deceptive.
If the Ukrainians are using civilian infrastructure for military purposes—which they likely are—it doesn't change the fact that Russia is the aggressor, nor does it make them right.

Without organizations like these, without the UN, Doctors Without Borders, and similar groups, war would be even more devastating than it already is.
Whether you like them or not is irrelevant.
Just because Russia is the clear aggressor, clearly in the wrong, and has clearly unleashed a wave of atrocities, doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to everything else.

I was just getting into the rhythm of following the Ukrainians and the Orcs... So what on earth is this Separi stuff all about now?

What kind of "proxy war" are we even talking about here?
Russia attacked a sovereign nation simply because they chose to align with the West instead of them.

It’s like someone beating up their partner just because she decided to go out with someone else.

Melissa Rivera5 said:I don't really get the issue. Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov keep saying the will of the people has to be respected. Or is it just that everyone else has to respect the will of the Russian people? This whole thing with the "referendums" feels like a total farce, starting all the way back with Crimea, right?

Oh, it's an absolute farce, of course.

Timothy Williams5 said:Well, they did permit it for 20% of Ukrainian territory already, so why not more?
At this rate, the Russians would happily sign off on a referendum to strip away more than half of Ukraine.

Every single inch of it. Let's not play games here.

dustyfalcon122 said:My main takeaway is that China is still holding its own against the Americans in the Pacific.
Actually, they're at a point where generals have openly admitted they aren't even sure if they could stop an invasion of Taiwan.

The Navy isn't the only variable here.
Take World War II, for example. The British had a navy that was perhaps fifty times more powerful than the Germans, yet they still couldn't prevent invasions in Norway or Crete.
China is, after all, a somewhat more serious military power than Argentina to think they could just dispatch a fleet and wrap everything up in two weeks.

Comparing the Chinese fleet to the American one is a bit of a joke.
At this stage, it’s questionable whether you could even make a fair comparison with the British or the French.

Could China, for instance, send a fleet to the other side of the world and wage war there?
They might be able to manage that.

Oh, a referendum... please. Give me a break.
As if Russia would ever actually permit a vote to let half their territory walk away.

It’s honestly just pure absurdity at this point.

dustyfalcon122 said:https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=716f59ac611d

I mean, if you don't count the entire US Pacific Fleet in the equation, then that gap with the Chinese forces just looks way bigger.

The Chinese Navy is likely about ten times weaker than the American one.
There is probably some truth to that comparison with the British Navy, too.

Of course, that assumes you are looking at the quality, scale, and tech on those ships, rather than just counting hulls.
Are two corvettes really equal to two ships? Are two aircraft carriers equal to two ships? Technically, yes... but if I were heading into a fight, I’d much prefer having two carriers.

analogbear5 said:It’d be feudalism if the peasants were actually the ones driving production. Instead, you've got this mafia-style setup making a killing by exploiting natural resources rather than moving drugs. There’s a reason Aleksandr Litvinenko coined the term "mafia state."

Whatever you say... This has absolutely nothing to do with communism.

analogbear5 said:Communism is a socio-political system where the working class holds control and ownership over the means of production (capital).

In Russian hands, that turned into Party rule—Russian style—built on terror and genocide.

Honestly, we can thank the Russians for killing off the most logical critique of capitalism.

You’re talking about the USSR, not modern-day Russia.
In today's Russia, capital sits in the hands of Putin's oligarchs, not the working class.
If you look at it objectively from the outside, Russia is operating under a form of feudalism rather than communism.

boldotter2 said:If this war has proven anything, I think it's that those old divisions just don't matter anymore, at least not in Ukraine.

Everyone is standing up against Putin's army and fighting back—it's everyone, really. Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, neo-Nazis, liberals, communists, Americans, Russians, Chechens... you name it.

They really are just orcs, nothing else.

There are plenty of neo-Nazis in Russia. And there are Muslims in their military too.
The rest of the world stands against Russia because from an airplane, it’s obvious: this is just a powerful state (nominally) attacking a weaker one.
It isn't about ideology or religion.
When you're looking at David and Goliath, everyone sides with David simply because he's the underdog being attacked.

And all this talk about communism and stars, when we're dealing with a country practically run by oligarchs? That's just noise from people who haven't a clue what they're talking about.

Donna Wells2 said:Hahaha... so I lived under communism for 20 years, but I clearly have no clue what it is?
When there was no oil, no sugar, no coffee, no chocolate... when you could barely find a car, when power outages were the norm, when you couldn't dare whisper a word against the local locksmith or the party without ending up in a cell, when "verbal offenses" were a crime and that bloody red star tore through and slaughtered a third of America...
If you want to get technical... communism never truly existed in the USSR; it was socialism as an order... because communism was just some theoretical phase they thought they’d reach one day, right?
Go read a little bit of "Utopia"... study some actual facts before telling me I don't know what I'm talking about.
By the way... by resolution, the Council of Europe has condemned all communist systems, just like fascism and Nazism... labeling them as inhuman and barbaric.

If you are talking about America, you weren't living under communism, but rather under self-managed socialism.
Communism is a social structure, not a method of governing a state.
Take, for instance, the United States not too long ago, which was a capitalist nation that had legalized racism (Jim Crow laws). Does that make capitalism inherently evil?

So, let's recap: Russia isn't a communist state today. It hasn't been for quite some time.
The fact that you view dictatorship and communism as synonyms is your own problem and your own misunderstanding, not a matter of fact.

Donna Wells2 said:And what about their connection to Nazism, right?
I’m just asking: why on earth does their weaponry feature a five-pointed star, or why are the occupiers parading through Ukraine flying the flag of the Soviet Union?

So, if they had a white star on there, would they suddenly be Americans?

What we’re seeing in Russia isn't communism; it's tycoon capitalism.
As far as I'm aware, there isn't some ban on private property or any other communist nonsense.
They simply inherited symbols from the USSR, which actually was a communist state.

I get the impression you don't quite grasp what the word "communism" actually means.

Donna Wells2 said:Maybe because they teamed up with the German fascists to carve up Poland back in 1939.
And honestly, looking at how they act today—did you even see that footage?

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-ge...-19374678.html

What connection does modern-day Russia actually have to communism?

Kevin Murphy7 said:Why does everyone keep calling Russian communists fascists?

Because they actually are fascists, rather than communists.

Justin Mendoza16 said:☕they've been on that list for like 1000 or 2000 years now

Vatican City hasn't even existed as a sovereign state since the 20th century, and the Great Schism happened less than a millennium ago. You're quite a bit off base here.
☕

Wouldn't it be simpler just to sugarcoat the whole thing?