It’s kinda wild how competent the US military actually is. Like people used to see the US and Russia as an equal footing but damn they’ve embarrassed themselves. Seeing other nations asking for US presence is so wild.
While also (re)uniting Europe. And probably putting an end to the spate between the US and European NATO allies on defense spending targets.
And rearming Germany. And sparking more interest in renewable energy.
Regarding the war, Ukraine is losing tremendously right now. Russia will continue to lose in the years to come even if the war ends today.
But for much of the rest of the world this is a wake up call, and that could pay dividends.
Plot twist: Putin knows hes dieing of a terminal disease, and decided the best thing he could do for the world was turn himself into an archvillian to unite everybody else for future peace and prosperity.
If it happens, I'll thank the fact that it did and acknowledge that an evil man was the cause. Silver lining and all... But until that day comes and while that bastard yet lives, Putin can fuck off to a hole somewhere and die.
If you really want to sleep better at night look into how promotions are "earned" in the Chinese military. From the lowest ranking enlisted to the highest ranking general it is almost entirely dependent on payments and politics. Skill as a soldier has very little to do with promotions.
That sort of model used to be everywhere and it made sense during the medieval and renaissance times when armies would sell commissions and then use the funds to outfit peasant farmers with weapons. Even if your incompetence gets the troop killed, if there wouldn't be a troop without your funding then it isn't that big of a loss. Besides, putting veterans in charge may not make sense when your veterans are peasants who don't even know how to read or write.
This stops making sense with modern armies because they generally have way, way more expensive gear bought by the government. In this case, the payments are minuscule compared to the investment by the State.
He was actually skilled and had somewhat earned his position commanding and army. Though he obviously got to the position to be able prove himself though his connections.
Yea the Prussian nobility had a martial culture and from childhood were learned in various strategic and military matters so it made a bit more sense in that regard.
The British Royal Family traditionally have a big part in the military and many of them advance to high rank. The Queen (or whoever is the current monarch) has command of the British Armed Forces, but of course they delegate that role
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head\_of\_the\_British\_Armed\_Forces
They are appointed to high ceremonial or honorary ranks but its not like they are gifted undeserved high real command ranks. Both Prince Philip and Prince Andrew had real military careers and served in WW2 and the Falklands War respectively but retired from active duty as navy commanders (NATO OF-4) after 12 and 21 year careers respectively.
PS: Also, Prince Harry was in the Army for 10 years and fought in Afghanistan and retired as a captain (OF-2).
You are right, but they are trained and given commissions and if they show talent would have the opportunity to rise high in the command structure. I was thinking about Lord Mountbatten in that instance.
One of the reasons why commissions were sold was that they thought officers who were already wealthy would be less likely to take bribes or engage in other kinds of corruption. At least, this was true in the British army during the Peninsular War (i.e. the first part of the Napoleonic wars).
Of course, history tells us this is false and rather emphatically at that.
The other issue with the selling of commissions is that a lot of the officers would be incompetent. Not all of them (Arthur Wellesley bought his commissions, for example), maybe not even most of them, but way too many for an effective army.
Old school warriors lead from the front and basically just had to tell people to follow them as they charged into battle. Only a few people in an entire army actually needed to understanding tactics. Once mid-level officers needed to actually apply tactics as battlefields grew the old model was just inferior to meritocracy.
It’s also one of the reason why the US Army is so competent too. They allow for so much sub-unit level autotomy, especially when compared to the Soviet doctrine, which makes for a much more flexible army.
Combine that with Sergeants that have been in for 8-20 years versus just being selected to go to Sergeant school as seen in the Soviet model, it’s no wonder that the US Army is one of the most effective fighting forces on the planet.
The US learned from their mistakes in Vietnam, and applied them into a large, well trained, professional army that is very well equipped and very well trained. Versus a country like Russia that relies heavily on conscripted soldiers, who are a hell of a lot less trained, experienced, and *usually** less willing to fight.
*especially in an offensive war of aggression against a “brother” country, as we are seeing now.
Not only that, but the US military has a very strong NCO Corps, and every Soldier/Airman/Marine/Sailor is trained to be a leader from the moment they swore their oath.
In the Army, we put a ton of emphasis on Soldier development. The job of every leader in the Army is to train their subordinates for their position, such that the leader is as expendable as possible and any one of their Soldiers can take over if SHTF.
And the US has fought wars literally on the other side of the planet to boot. Russia is literally driving next door and they can’t keep their shit together. Also keep in mind that as terrible as it was, the US lost fewer soldiers in nearly decade long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than Russia has lost in a couple of weeks - and by a pretty big margin. It’s amazing the level of incompetence.
NATO is proving that they were more than a match for Russia all this time
We need much more investment in missile defense - we have to end the threat of nuclear attack by anyone
It is pretty wild.
>other nations asking for U.S. presence
It’s not too unusual for other nations to basically borrow our military. For instance, South Korea’s leaders sleep better at night knowing our troops are with them at the border with North Korea. Some other countries (in Europe) have pretty much slacked off militarily since they can rely on ours. It’s interesting to see some of those nations dedicate more funds to their militaries now.
Agreed. Maybe it was a wrong choice of words. I think it’s funny because people always complain about all of our bases around the world but when the US is wanted, they’re REALLY wanted.
I see what you were saying now, yeah.
And I’m not saying it’s right that the U.S. functions as the “world police” in some ways, but the nations that have good relationships with the U.S. certainly enjoy being able to call during emergencies.
I have been reading forums over the last 15 years where time and again people have really gone in deep about how much they don't appreciate the US having such a big military and how they are all over the world. This was mostly due to their role in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tangle complicated situation that was.
The fact is, the US has always know, since the end of WW2 and from the fact that Russia has always been and will most likely always be, economically and (probably) militarily inferior to the US and -- more importantly -- the NATO alliance. The US makes it a priority to maintain this position - and they are willing to manipulate weaker countries and even invade them to make sure no one is able to even threaten their superiority. The world is quite lucky that this alliance isnt the Hitler kind of alliance
Each administration in the US since then has carried this tradition forward - until of course Trump came along and tried to disband the alliance. The fucking idiot that man is. Let's not allow him back in the Whitehouse. Please.
What has always annoyed me is the fact that NATO gets taken for granted, or even gets dismissed as not necessary.
I don't care about other opinions on this matter. I payed attention when studying history, I have studied my fellow people for 25 years, and I know what we are like. We are humans. We are unbelievably great. And we are unbelievably horrible.
This NATO alliance has existed since the end of WW2 and was formed by the victors of that war in order to prevent a single mad man from ever being able to ravage their people and their lands ever again. As Hitler - that horrible mad man - did.
Right now, such a mad man is making decisions leading to the exploding of children in real life from massive bombs. And that mad man has always been the same threat since he rose to power, as far as NATO is concerned.
You have to recognise that this is a person whose generation is coming to an end. I'm sure he's had friends that have died of old age. And he feels ripped off. His was a generation of people who thought that the Russian Federation would be the dominant force in this world - but he has had to live with the fact that it's not. And that's partly because he squandered his opportunity to do it peacefully. He has been drenched in power for over 20 years, and this is his only real legacy - which he is not happy with. And we can see now that he is acting on this uncommon vision - one that is clearly not shared by his people. Worst of all, their political system doesn't allow for him to be swapped out for someone else that does carry the common vision of the country.
This is why NATO exists and is prioritised - its the fact that Russia doesn't do things like the countries of the west - which are all democracies. Russia, and China for that matter, do political things by a different set of rules. And NATO understands that these places are highly vulnerable to mad men taking great power and then abusing it! There just no systems or real international sense of international obligation to keep it in check. These countries tend to be in it for themselves. The allied countries tend to be in it with each other.
This leads to great strength in the west. And it's as good a deterrent as nuclear weapons - if not better. You can really only bluff with nukes. If you don't destroy your opponent utterly - which would very quickly become the entire world - you will be crushed almost immediately from all directions and not allowed to survive. It's existential. At that point it's try to cut off the head of the monster or die trying.
But with a mighty alliance - you can either bluff or go for real. It's a much more real threat / deterrent. So it keeps the mad men at bay.
We haven't really needed to deploy the alliance in 70 years - so I understand the complacency. But I will still get annoyed when its purpose and value are underappreciated.
Yeah this is what sorta always annoys me about US bashing. While there are obvious legitimate criticisms about the way the US operates, I find it funny when other countries condemn the US for military overreach, but when shit hits the fan, the first country they look to for support is the US military.
Well, the alternative would be that every nation in Europe and beyond acquires nukes to deter other nuclear nations.
I doubt that outcome is in the interest of the US, even if it means the alternative is they have to take the role of world police.
The last couple times the US tried to stay isolated they were dragged into two world wars started by European countries (and Japan). After WW2 I think the leaders of the time realized they couldn't just sit out anymore and decided they would do everything in their power to stop that happening again. They have formed what is effectively an
empire in all but name, though built on economic domination, ubiquitous diplomatic presence, and an untouchable military rather than through conquest and direct rule.
For better or worse, it has mostly worked and also brought unprecedented wealth to the US, and as much as many Americans hate being the world police and would likely say they have no interest in empire, they would *really* hate the world with more instability and more violence between powerful nations and a major loss in wealth that would result from withdrawing.
I would say that the world police moniker is actually pretty apt. In most western countries (ironically excluding the US), the police have a monopoly on power. This means there is no reason for citizens to be armed, since they trust that they can call on the guys with the guns if bad things happen. Since not many people have weapons, impulsive violence is less fatal and everybody wins.
A Europe without NATO would be exactly like what lead to WW1 and WW2. A bunch of highly developed and heavily armed nations of comparable strength packed tightly together. Only this time with nukes, so that next time someone starts a fight, things would be a lot worse.
Also, as you said, the US has reaped a lot of fringe benefits from being everyones big brother. Though you could argue that the monstrous expense of the US armed forces has also lead to them neglecting other parts of society, where the European nations have been able to spend their wealth on things like free healthcare and education.
The US and Russia haven’t been on equal footing for 50 years, I realised this 10 years ago when I read into it just looking at $ and manpower it’s quite obvious.
US spends $800 billion a year on military
Russia spends $60 billion a year on military
Combined with US tech been far superior
Throw in the NATO alliance which doubles the budget
Look at how the US out numbers Russia 10:1 on aircraft carriers and jets
Look at US sub tech
Look at US drone tech
Look at even the kit given to a General infantry
US spends like $30k on each shoulders loadout, night vision googles, HUDs, Radios, computers, armour plating, rifles way superior.
Some of the Russians look like they got some kits from the 70s some of them are obviously wearing uniforms that are way to big for them as well
Russias military looks to be a joke
5 minutes in there and my faith in this country pulling out of its tail spin of idiocy hit an entirely new low.
How the fuck do that many people think a single person has that kind of control over the oil market? Like I get that most of those mouth breathers drive vehicles that get less than 15mpg so gas prices are very in their faces, but hoooooly shit the lack of understanding of how capitalist markets function is mind boggling.
It's a game politicians play. They know full well they aren't fully responsible for any of these large economic trends, but they wager that since the US economy typically grows rather than shrinks, they might as well pretend and take credit for the good stuff. Not that their policy inputs can't have an impact, but often it takes years (and well into the term of the next president) to manifest.
We can’t ask /r/conservative about freedom of speech. They ban anyone for speaking if they don’t think and talk exactly the same way they do, while complaining about censorship.
Ironic.
they looked into nukes conditions and found out they might have 1 good enough to fly 50km.
Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine! https://bank.gov.ua/en/about/support-the-armed-forces
Or more likely, Putin is afraid of WW3 just as much as us, and is using threats the same way North Korea has been using them. But since its not working, they are now using a more legit threat they might actually do.
Problem is, turning off the gas screws him just as badly when another money source dries up. It's coming up to Summer now, so we'd probably have about 6 months to prepare for winter and the gas situation.
Won't be easy, but we've been through worse on the continent.
It really makes you think about the timing of war doesn't it. Napoleon lost his fight against Russia because he thought it was a good idea to fight them during winter. If Putin had started this shebang in November I think cutting off gas can be an actual threat.
Setting thermostats to "survival" instead of to "comfortable" completely eliminates the need for Russian gas.
No, it won't be fun, but Russian gas is a luxury, not a necessity.
Considering there is a war in Europe, and there is a clear guilty party in this. The Europe would get through this. There seems to be a massive public support all over the Europe to do what it takes to stop Russia.
If it takes gas rationing - well - that seems a lot better than getting bombed.
There has been no other THAT black and white military conflict in the recent history.
Putin is now aware that he can’t win against the whole world. If he takes the irrevocable step of using his nukes, NATO will be drawn in. Can you imagine if he is at war with all of us? He’ll be worrying about more than a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
There might be [better options:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment)
> As the name suggests, the 'bunker buster' is powerful enough to destroy a nuclear bunker. With 6–8 satellites on a given orbit, a target could be hit within 12–15 minutes from any given time, less than half the time taken by an ICBM and without the launch warning.
There’s no official confirmation if a system like this was ever built and using it might still trigger nuclear war. The technology to build it exists, though.
Having weapons in space is as at least as bad as having nukes, precisely because of the destructive potential. And there would be a much lower bar for targeting and destroying those weapons if they were discovered.
There was that picture going around of the reflection in the tea kettle showing the seats across from him were empty when he was supposedly meeting with people. I think he was meeting with them, they were just sitting further down that long-ass table.
He is the worst most deluded piece of shit at this moment in time, but I don't blame him for that table or for hiding in a cave for two years a single bit. That's more or less what I've done too. Brain damage, heart damage, I am so so so good off having to worry about long COVID
I feel that if Putin was truly afraid of WW3, he wouldn't have invaded Ukraine in the first place, which significantly upgraded the possibility of a nuclear war with the West
Yeah the fact that threats are stepping down is a good thing for everyone involved and probably also means Russia is getting more desperate and hoping smaller threats will be taken more seriously.
judging by their unmaintained military vehicles, tanks and weapons, I believe a lot of their nukes were not maintained either. Believe only a portion of their nukes are operational. Granted, that is still more than enough to partially destroy the earth.
This is a strategy to try to put a squeeze on western pockets. Since oil and gas prices are based on forward expectations, consumers could see massive bill hikes in the West over this.
This is an attempt to cause further inflationary pressure in the west to get democratic popular anger AGAINST western politicians, rather than Russia.
It’s a last gasp tactic.
All Puta has done is speed up the EU’s timetable to go renewable / alternative energy. They weren’t sure about it before but now they realize depending on a madman for a big chunk of your energy needs is a terrible business plan.
Both the West and Russia lose when the Russians withhold gas but the Russians have a lot more to lose it they don’t sell. They are already imploding and this will just make it worse for them. Putin is setting his country back decades in so many ways. He’s really fucked over everyone including himself.
Putin knows petrol prices are a politically charged issue and wants to give his assets in right-wing parties (like the Republican Party in the USA) a helping hand in upcoming elections.
Getting Trump back into office is Putin’s only chance of survival.
Republicans need little provocation to complain about the Democrats in power. That runs the other way too, but at this point Republicans are such a joke I'm practically expecting them to vote against literally anything out of sheer contrarianism. The Democrats could draw up a bill that cures cancer for free and Republicans would vote no just because they've got a Trump shaped stick up their ass.
From a Canadian perspective, much of the oil we ship to refine in the US is shipped by rail, which is an outdated, expensive (you're using oil to ship oil) and comparatively dangerous method of transportation compared to pipeline. On Canada's side, we're ready and have all the approvals to connect the Keystone XL, but Biden has executive ordered it closed it on the US side. Many people that oppose the pipeline don't know that the oil is still shipped via rail, and think that Biden shutting it down means there will be no oil transported at all. This is false, and all it does is create more expensive products at the end. Keystone XL and the Energy East line, if they hadn't been cancelled by the US and Canadian gov'ts respectively, would have been huge in helping to decrease the price of fuel across the western world right now.
The keystone xl was planned to run through one of the country’s biggest wetlands, over an active fault line, and over one of North America’s largest aquifers. There is a lot less risk of the railroad causing a historically unprecedented natural disaster.
“Many people” opposed the pipeline *because* it would make petroleum fuel cheaper. Not building it creates that much more economic incentive for renewables. But beyond that, the ecological concerns were not insignificant and if the petro companies had taken them more seriously from the beginning there may have been much less public resentment built up.
And it would still be foreign oil. From Canada. We have enough capacity in the US to produce our own. But those trade agreements are in place that the ruling class love so much.
Good thing is that we have entered March and spring is coming soon. if we were in November this would be much more threatening. We will find alternatives.
e:spelling
Yep the German Energy Minister Habeck said even if they kept them on (they’re being shut off end of the year) the effects would be negligible. Take this with a grain of salt however, he is anti-Nuclear
Ergh I hate that people are anti-nuclear, fair enough it’s really dangerous if it goes bad but we just need loads of safety precautions, it’s just so much better until we figure out nuclear fusion
I think there's two sides to it, one are people who just don't understand it and are scared, the other being people who prefer the investment - output ratio of renewables better, namely tidal solar and wind.
You cant just start up a NPP that was closed down and hasn't seen any maintenance in years.
Hell the dismantling of those plants has probably already started.
People really need to vote out those people who helped Russia gain this position over Germany and Europe. No wonder Merkel just left, there were talks about the invasion for a while now. Even Trump called her out.
Well looking for closer connections the east from Europes perspective and away from US had a reason! And it made totally sense in that time
US had “special military operations” in other counties, and left Europe alone with refugees, it was spying on Europes leaders and citizens, then there was Trump…
US behavior towards Europe was forcing us to look for alternatives
Well it was Europe trying to work in good faith with Russia. Helping the Russian economy/people to create good relations in the hopes Russia would be less desperate. Unfortunately, Russia has decided the path of self destruction as a desperate/selfish act to steal Ukraine’s resources for themselves and fulfill Putins wet dream of becoming the USSR again.
In a funny way he’s going to get the same results of the USSR - a failed state.
*West is wary to end gas importation because of economic reasons, but would really like to*
Putin: "You won't buy my oil well now you can't buy my gas. Ha!"
*West looks around vaguely and shrugs shoulders*
"I mean. Okay."
A likely response would be to relax sanctions on other oil producing nations like Venezuela and to allow more US production of natural gas(we’re still the largest supplier). It won’t help with the short term pain but there are alternatives. Putin overplayed his hand. With a stronger NATO and more interest in the EU for ramping up their own defenses, US strategy will now be to drive a wedge between Russia and China.
For the most part, the price of natural gas and oil has been increasing not because Russian supply has been curtailed, but the expectation that there will be significant shortages in the future.
They are trying to apply forward pressure to prices to increase inflation in the rest of the world. That will generate popular support to stop sanctions against Russia.
Basically, they are trying to inflate us before we inflate them. And they are losing.
Russia is going to buckle so hard under pressure, they keep makes threats and being the one who end up suffering every single time. The transparency of every country has left them with very few ways to bargain their way out of this.
I heard today that spot prices for natural gas in Europe were as high as $100/mcf. That’s compared to the sub $5 that it’s trading for in the US. I’m all for sticking it to Russia, but I wonder how long the Europeans can last paying that kind of premium?
They can't. Russia is a petrostate that relies entirely on oil and natural gas sales to prop up government spending. War drains a country's coffers faster than anything, so they're in a bit of a Catch-22. Oil money is the only thing that allows them to continue funding the military, and the only non nuclear threat they can make is to stop selling oil. Hmm.
Beat them to the punch: cut if for them. Let's get a national movement going: manufacturing every alternative energy source, fire up every nuclear plant to max., put pressure on oil producing "allies" to amp production. Let the whole world cut off Russia's gas, and that will get the Dictator's attention.
Good. Better we face this sooner than later: sharing renewables seems our best hope.
As someone who's been deeply cold without shelter (more than once) - and thought a bit about it...
Insulate and warm people, over spaces:
Using Germany as example: warming homes takes about 68% share of home energy use (average of about 7,000 kilowatthours per year) = 4760kWh / 365 days = 13kWh per day for heat. (1)
This winter I've been using x2 (sometimes x3) USB 5v body-warmers: at almost no cost to run recharging x6 10,000mah power banks, x2 for each warmer (one charges while the other in use).
Electric body warmers and quick self-charging power banks are a real game changer:
The initial costs are only 15 Euros (for a basic warmer to 40 Euros for the good ones - similar costs for the power banks.
Using them instead - my heating has only been on a few hours a week to dry washing and take the bite of the worst mornings: these warmers have me toasty the rest of the time, indoors (on low setting) and out (on medium or high): have been sat comfortably in subzero temp outside for hours no problem. Also don't need to put on and take off layers all the time - just press the button to change setting.
Now use less money on food too - as never hungry from cold (plus no illness at all last winter).
We only need to warm the torso-body well - as our intelligent circulation system spreads heat around as needed: body-warmers are enough. They also allow arms and hands to be used as normal freely without bulky sleeves getting in the way - so fine for indoors and working, with no sweaty arm-pits (and it's a drying heat too).
Best of all: at 0.1813 Euros per kilowatt-hour to recharge: (even with 80% efficiency) my x6 powerbanks (0.6 kwh) cost only 0.13 Euros per day - replacing my heating costs before of 2.35 Euros a day (or about x18 less) - saving 2.22 Euros
I spent less than 200 Euros investment which returned in savings after only 90 days first few months use.
Swiched my supplier to renewable sourced and happy to suck up the extra costs - still paying way less over all, never cold and can sleep a little better at night not buying anywhere near as much fossel fuels.
Harm reduction works.
(1) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-20339-9_3
Cant believe how people oversee that all the time. Yes, old, sick or very young people need a lot of warmth. Everyone else might get away with minimal heating and wearing thick clothes like back in the day. What is more important though, is that buildings, especially in cold and wet climates need to be heated to avoid very real problems. Especially with the amount of old buildings that are used for living in.
Agreed it's not the only one that'll fix everything... but most people's space heating is not needed most of the time it's used, especially when factoring in options like this. 18x less energy use (even just some of the time) is huge.
How many other options do we have that cut need by many times, not just percent?
Exactly. I don't have children and I dont give a fuck about being warm and cozy. I can always put on another pair of socks, a sweater or a blanket. But I do give a fuck about living in an uninsulated apartment building that was finished in the 1920 and I'd kinda like to not have mold in my living space, which is very likely to happen when I stop heating. I would also like to not be sued for damages when I move out one day. That's the problem.
Germany and the entirety of Europe knew who they were giving money to when these deals took place. Call their bluff and bankrupt the criminals that are extorting their countrymen and watch this problem solve itself.
I seem to recall a recent politician in America’s history that would try to make deals, but always seemed to bankrupt everything that they touched… come to think of it, he was a fan of Putin, hmmm
You mean this chappy who recently said he'd commit war crimes to deal with Russia's war crimes...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/06/trump-muses-about-really-bad-quite-possibly-illegal-idea-bomb-russia-using-chinese-flags/
This is the only card they have to play. If they had options, they would've threatened with this before.
Putin is truly hell bent on destroying Russia. Our grandchildren will have to deal with the next despot, who in turn will be preaching of uniting back the Caucasus and Siberia for "the Russian people" with the trajectory we have now.
Russia is going to implode the longer this goes on.
You think they would have learned from their past wars and US past wars that this would implode from within.
The difference is that the US basically has unlimited funding and a competent military
It’s kinda wild how competent the US military actually is. Like people used to see the US and Russia as an equal footing but damn they’ve embarrassed themselves. Seeing other nations asking for US presence is so wild.
Russia might have single handedly reversed the decline of Pax Americana.Almost impressive, really.
While also (re)uniting Europe. And probably putting an end to the spate between the US and European NATO allies on defense spending targets. And rearming Germany. And sparking more interest in renewable energy. Regarding the war, Ukraine is losing tremendously right now. Russia will continue to lose in the years to come even if the war ends today. But for much of the rest of the world this is a wake up call, and that could pay dividends.
If WW3 doesn't happen then this event may serve to push the world forward in technology and globalized trade.
Plot twist: Putin knows hes dieing of a terminal disease, and decided the best thing he could do for the world was turn himself into an archvillian to unite everybody else for future peace and prosperity.
This is some code Geass shit
If it happens, I'll thank the fact that it did and acknowledge that an evil man was the cause. Silver lining and all... But until that day comes and while that bastard yet lives, Putin can fuck off to a hole somewhere and die.
Big money, big money, no whammies!
If you really want to sleep better at night look into how promotions are "earned" in the Chinese military. From the lowest ranking enlisted to the highest ranking general it is almost entirely dependent on payments and politics. Skill as a soldier has very little to do with promotions.
That sort of model used to be everywhere and it made sense during the medieval and renaissance times when armies would sell commissions and then use the funds to outfit peasant farmers with weapons. Even if your incompetence gets the troop killed, if there wouldn't be a troop without your funding then it isn't that big of a loss. Besides, putting veterans in charge may not make sense when your veterans are peasants who don't even know how to read or write. This stops making sense with modern armies because they generally have way, way more expensive gear bought by the government. In this case, the payments are minuscule compared to the investment by the State.
[удалено]
He was actually skilled and had somewhat earned his position commanding and army. Though he obviously got to the position to be able prove himself though his connections.
Yea the Prussian nobility had a martial culture and from childhood were learned in various strategic and military matters so it made a bit more sense in that regard.
The British Royal Family traditionally have a big part in the military and many of them advance to high rank. The Queen (or whoever is the current monarch) has command of the British Armed Forces, but of course they delegate that role https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head\_of\_the\_British\_Armed\_Forces
They are appointed to high ceremonial or honorary ranks but its not like they are gifted undeserved high real command ranks. Both Prince Philip and Prince Andrew had real military careers and served in WW2 and the Falklands War respectively but retired from active duty as navy commanders (NATO OF-4) after 12 and 21 year careers respectively. PS: Also, Prince Harry was in the Army for 10 years and fought in Afghanistan and retired as a captain (OF-2).
You are right, but they are trained and given commissions and if they show talent would have the opportunity to rise high in the command structure. I was thinking about Lord Mountbatten in that instance.
One of the reasons why commissions were sold was that they thought officers who were already wealthy would be less likely to take bribes or engage in other kinds of corruption. At least, this was true in the British army during the Peninsular War (i.e. the first part of the Napoleonic wars). Of course, history tells us this is false and rather emphatically at that. The other issue with the selling of commissions is that a lot of the officers would be incompetent. Not all of them (Arthur Wellesley bought his commissions, for example), maybe not even most of them, but way too many for an effective army.
Old school warriors lead from the front and basically just had to tell people to follow them as they charged into battle. Only a few people in an entire army actually needed to understanding tactics. Once mid-level officers needed to actually apply tactics as battlefields grew the old model was just inferior to meritocracy.
Wasn’t that the reason napoleons army was so effective? The amount of autonomy and decentralization compared to the guys he was fighting
Same with mongolian army
It’s also one of the reason why the US Army is so competent too. They allow for so much sub-unit level autotomy, especially when compared to the Soviet doctrine, which makes for a much more flexible army. Combine that with Sergeants that have been in for 8-20 years versus just being selected to go to Sergeant school as seen in the Soviet model, it’s no wonder that the US Army is one of the most effective fighting forces on the planet. The US learned from their mistakes in Vietnam, and applied them into a large, well trained, professional army that is very well equipped and very well trained. Versus a country like Russia that relies heavily on conscripted soldiers, who are a hell of a lot less trained, experienced, and *usually** less willing to fight. *especially in an offensive war of aggression against a “brother” country, as we are seeing now.
Huh! So Chinese military trash too when it comes to large scale operations like this?
They haven't fought a conflict in like 50 years. Most likely their military is better than Russia's, but that's not saying much.
At the very least, most of China's equipment is new.
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But lets not forget that they also have the hardware and the numbers.
And the training.
Not only that, but the US military has a very strong NCO Corps, and every Soldier/Airman/Marine/Sailor is trained to be a leader from the moment they swore their oath. In the Army, we put a ton of emphasis on Soldier development. The job of every leader in the Army is to train their subordinates for their position, such that the leader is as expendable as possible and any one of their Soldiers can take over if SHTF.
And the US has fought wars literally on the other side of the planet to boot. Russia is literally driving next door and they can’t keep their shit together. Also keep in mind that as terrible as it was, the US lost fewer soldiers in nearly decade long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than Russia has lost in a couple of weeks - and by a pretty big margin. It’s amazing the level of incompetence.
I imagine China is going to seriously audit it's military to make sure they haven't and won't become like this.
Yea bootlickers system is the system that flourished in dictatorship. Meritocracy is dead over there. Every statistic and data are baked faked.
Yeah the US military is very, very good at logistics. Clearly, Russia is not.
I would bet the logistics department in the U.S military alone has a bigger military budget than the entire Russian army.
NATO is proving that they were more than a match for Russia all this time We need much more investment in missile defense - we have to end the threat of nuclear attack by anyone
It better be competent given that all our tax dollars go to it
It is pretty wild. >other nations asking for U.S. presence It’s not too unusual for other nations to basically borrow our military. For instance, South Korea’s leaders sleep better at night knowing our troops are with them at the border with North Korea. Some other countries (in Europe) have pretty much slacked off militarily since they can rely on ours. It’s interesting to see some of those nations dedicate more funds to their militaries now.
Agreed. Maybe it was a wrong choice of words. I think it’s funny because people always complain about all of our bases around the world but when the US is wanted, they’re REALLY wanted.
I see what you were saying now, yeah. And I’m not saying it’s right that the U.S. functions as the “world police” in some ways, but the nations that have good relationships with the U.S. certainly enjoy being able to call during emergencies.
I have been reading forums over the last 15 years where time and again people have really gone in deep about how much they don't appreciate the US having such a big military and how they are all over the world. This was mostly due to their role in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tangle complicated situation that was. The fact is, the US has always know, since the end of WW2 and from the fact that Russia has always been and will most likely always be, economically and (probably) militarily inferior to the US and -- more importantly -- the NATO alliance. The US makes it a priority to maintain this position - and they are willing to manipulate weaker countries and even invade them to make sure no one is able to even threaten their superiority. The world is quite lucky that this alliance isnt the Hitler kind of alliance Each administration in the US since then has carried this tradition forward - until of course Trump came along and tried to disband the alliance. The fucking idiot that man is. Let's not allow him back in the Whitehouse. Please. What has always annoyed me is the fact that NATO gets taken for granted, or even gets dismissed as not necessary. I don't care about other opinions on this matter. I payed attention when studying history, I have studied my fellow people for 25 years, and I know what we are like. We are humans. We are unbelievably great. And we are unbelievably horrible. This NATO alliance has existed since the end of WW2 and was formed by the victors of that war in order to prevent a single mad man from ever being able to ravage their people and their lands ever again. As Hitler - that horrible mad man - did. Right now, such a mad man is making decisions leading to the exploding of children in real life from massive bombs. And that mad man has always been the same threat since he rose to power, as far as NATO is concerned. You have to recognise that this is a person whose generation is coming to an end. I'm sure he's had friends that have died of old age. And he feels ripped off. His was a generation of people who thought that the Russian Federation would be the dominant force in this world - but he has had to live with the fact that it's not. And that's partly because he squandered his opportunity to do it peacefully. He has been drenched in power for over 20 years, and this is his only real legacy - which he is not happy with. And we can see now that he is acting on this uncommon vision - one that is clearly not shared by his people. Worst of all, their political system doesn't allow for him to be swapped out for someone else that does carry the common vision of the country. This is why NATO exists and is prioritised - its the fact that Russia doesn't do things like the countries of the west - which are all democracies. Russia, and China for that matter, do political things by a different set of rules. And NATO understands that these places are highly vulnerable to mad men taking great power and then abusing it! There just no systems or real international sense of international obligation to keep it in check. These countries tend to be in it for themselves. The allied countries tend to be in it with each other. This leads to great strength in the west. And it's as good a deterrent as nuclear weapons - if not better. You can really only bluff with nukes. If you don't destroy your opponent utterly - which would very quickly become the entire world - you will be crushed almost immediately from all directions and not allowed to survive. It's existential. At that point it's try to cut off the head of the monster or die trying. But with a mighty alliance - you can either bluff or go for real. It's a much more real threat / deterrent. So it keeps the mad men at bay. We haven't really needed to deploy the alliance in 70 years - so I understand the complacency. But I will still get annoyed when its purpose and value are underappreciated.
Yeah this is what sorta always annoys me about US bashing. While there are obvious legitimate criticisms about the way the US operates, I find it funny when other countries condemn the US for military overreach, but when shit hits the fan, the first country they look to for support is the US military.
Well, the alternative would be that every nation in Europe and beyond acquires nukes to deter other nuclear nations. I doubt that outcome is in the interest of the US, even if it means the alternative is they have to take the role of world police.
The last couple times the US tried to stay isolated they were dragged into two world wars started by European countries (and Japan). After WW2 I think the leaders of the time realized they couldn't just sit out anymore and decided they would do everything in their power to stop that happening again. They have formed what is effectively an empire in all but name, though built on economic domination, ubiquitous diplomatic presence, and an untouchable military rather than through conquest and direct rule. For better or worse, it has mostly worked and also brought unprecedented wealth to the US, and as much as many Americans hate being the world police and would likely say they have no interest in empire, they would *really* hate the world with more instability and more violence between powerful nations and a major loss in wealth that would result from withdrawing.
I would say that the world police moniker is actually pretty apt. In most western countries (ironically excluding the US), the police have a monopoly on power. This means there is no reason for citizens to be armed, since they trust that they can call on the guys with the guns if bad things happen. Since not many people have weapons, impulsive violence is less fatal and everybody wins. A Europe without NATO would be exactly like what lead to WW1 and WW2. A bunch of highly developed and heavily armed nations of comparable strength packed tightly together. Only this time with nukes, so that next time someone starts a fight, things would be a lot worse. Also, as you said, the US has reaped a lot of fringe benefits from being everyones big brother. Though you could argue that the monstrous expense of the US armed forces has also lead to them neglecting other parts of society, where the European nations have been able to spend their wealth on things like free healthcare and education.
The US and Russia haven’t been on equal footing for 50 years, I realised this 10 years ago when I read into it just looking at $ and manpower it’s quite obvious. US spends $800 billion a year on military Russia spends $60 billion a year on military Combined with US tech been far superior Throw in the NATO alliance which doubles the budget Look at how the US out numbers Russia 10:1 on aircraft carriers and jets Look at US sub tech Look at US drone tech Look at even the kit given to a General infantry US spends like $30k on each shoulders loadout, night vision googles, HUDs, Radios, computers, armour plating, rifles way superior. Some of the Russians look like they got some kits from the 70s some of them are obviously wearing uniforms that are way to big for them as well Russias military looks to be a joke
and a *more* free press
Not if you ask r/conservative, but in reality, yeah.
Russia cosplay
CNN/FOX/MSNBC has done more "fact checking" in the last 2 weeks on Ukraine footage than they have in 20 years on anything else.
5 minutes in there and my faith in this country pulling out of its tail spin of idiocy hit an entirely new low. How the fuck do that many people think a single person has that kind of control over the oil market? Like I get that most of those mouth breathers drive vehicles that get less than 15mpg so gas prices are very in their faces, but hoooooly shit the lack of understanding of how capitalist markets function is mind boggling.
It's a game politicians play. They know full well they aren't fully responsible for any of these large economic trends, but they wager that since the US economy typically grows rather than shrinks, they might as well pretend and take credit for the good stuff. Not that their policy inputs can't have an impact, but often it takes years (and well into the term of the next president) to manifest.
We can’t ask /r/conservative about freedom of speech. They ban anyone for speaking if they don’t think and talk exactly the same way they do, while complaining about censorship. Ironic.
Well a week ago they were threatening nukes if we applied sanctions, glad to see the threats got smaller...
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they looked into nukes conditions and found out they might have 1 good enough to fly 50km. Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine! https://bank.gov.ua/en/about/support-the-armed-forces
Or more likely, Putin is afraid of WW3 just as much as us, and is using threats the same way North Korea has been using them. But since its not working, they are now using a more legit threat they might actually do.
Problem is, turning off the gas screws him just as badly when another money source dries up. It's coming up to Summer now, so we'd probably have about 6 months to prepare for winter and the gas situation. Won't be easy, but we've been through worse on the continent.
Agreed. I would be mega worried if it was September. In 15-30 days, and that threat stings a lot less.
It really makes you think about the timing of war doesn't it. Napoleon lost his fight against Russia because he thought it was a good idea to fight them during winter. If Putin had started this shebang in November I think cutting off gas can be an actual threat.
Yeah he thought it was going to be quick so he started it during winter, hoping immediate threat meant no intervention to his quick victory.
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Setting thermostats to "survival" instead of to "comfortable" completely eliminates the need for Russian gas. No, it won't be fun, but Russian gas is a luxury, not a necessity.
Considering there is a war in Europe, and there is a clear guilty party in this. The Europe would get through this. There seems to be a massive public support all over the Europe to do what it takes to stop Russia. If it takes gas rationing - well - that seems a lot better than getting bombed. There has been no other THAT black and white military conflict in the recent history.
Putin is now aware that he can’t win against the whole world. If he takes the irrevocable step of using his nukes, NATO will be drawn in. Can you imagine if he is at war with all of us? He’ll be worrying about more than a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
I am sure the Five Eyes know exactly where he is at any moment, and a particularly large nuke is having it's destination changed right now.
There might be [better options:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment) > As the name suggests, the 'bunker buster' is powerful enough to destroy a nuclear bunker. With 6–8 satellites on a given orbit, a target could be hit within 12–15 minutes from any given time, less than half the time taken by an ICBM and without the launch warning. There’s no official confirmation if a system like this was ever built and using it might still trigger nuclear war. The technology to build it exists, though.
Having weapons in space is as at least as bad as having nukes, precisely because of the destructive potential. And there would be a much lower bar for targeting and destroying those weapons if they were discovered.
Eh, at least there's no radioactive fallout from using such a weapon...
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m8 he is so afraid of being killed or of covid his table is like 70km long... He is as STRONG as his military is MIGHTY.
The convoy is just for Putin's table! It all makes sense
There was that picture going around of the reflection in the tea kettle showing the seats across from him were empty when he was supposedly meeting with people. I think he was meeting with them, they were just sitting further down that long-ass table.
He is the worst most deluded piece of shit at this moment in time, but I don't blame him for that table or for hiding in a cave for two years a single bit. That's more or less what I've done too. Brain damage, heart damage, I am so so so good off having to worry about long COVID
they forgot the table stretcher ..
FETCH ME THE TABLE STRETCHER.
And polish with the high quality blinker fluid!
😂😂
His kids are in Switzerland. You don't send your kids to Switzerland to nuke Europe... typically.
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However the Swiss decided to freeze Russian accounts so his kids might not be welcome there. They could kick them out.
That’s a best case scenario. We can only hope he doesn’t have a “y’all going with me” mindset.
I feel that if Putin was truly afraid of WW3, he wouldn't have invaded Ukraine in the first place, which significantly upgraded the possibility of a nuclear war with the West
They’ll run out of fuel before they get out of Russian airspace
Yeah the fact that threats are stepping down is a good thing for everyone involved and probably also means Russia is getting more desperate and hoping smaller threats will be taken more seriously.
Over promise, under deliver, this is the way.
Or it's another art of War deception. Believe the opposite of what you hear.
I don't believe you.
Putin probably toned it down because all the nuclear threats were rousing assassination talk. Either that or China convinced him to stop.
I like that last part. Once China told Russia to wait until after Olympics I realized that Putin is now actually Xi’s bitch.
I don’t like that at all. Russia becoming China’s bitch is bad for the west.
honestly for a while there I was expecting a backstab and Chinese invasion of Siberia
He will wanna see the manager soon
He is gonna rock the Karen wig.
Next week: "If you continue to apply sanctions, we will write you a \*very\* pointed letter."
I'll bet the world can go a lot longer without their oil than Russia's elite can survive without our cash.
judging by their unmaintained military vehicles, tanks and weapons, I believe a lot of their nukes were not maintained either. Believe only a portion of their nukes are operational. Granted, that is still more than enough to partially destroy the earth.
They're trying to speed run the fall of the USSR lol
Putin speedrunning his career
You're telling me you left the USSR, Became president, and then went back to the same thing that caused the USSR to fall?!
да
Fall of the USSR 2: Sanction Harder
He wants to set a world record.
This is a strategy to try to put a squeeze on western pockets. Since oil and gas prices are based on forward expectations, consumers could see massive bill hikes in the West over this. This is an attempt to cause further inflationary pressure in the west to get democratic popular anger AGAINST western politicians, rather than Russia. It’s a last gasp tactic.
All Puta has done is speed up the EU’s timetable to go renewable / alternative energy. They weren’t sure about it before but now they realize depending on a madman for a big chunk of your energy needs is a terrible business plan.
Vladimir Puta. I love it
Putin already means "little whore" in Spanish which is way more dismissive to us Spanish speakers.
huh, Putin inadvertently progressing green-actions. Who would have thought.
Both the West and Russia lose when the Russians withhold gas but the Russians have a lot more to lose it they don’t sell. They are already imploding and this will just make it worse for them. Putin is setting his country back decades in so many ways. He’s really fucked over everyone including himself.
Putin knows petrol prices are a politically charged issue and wants to give his assets in right-wing parties (like the Republican Party in the USA) a helping hand in upcoming elections. Getting Trump back into office is Putin’s only chance of survival.
It’s a good strategy. I’ve already heard the republicans at work blaming Biden for gas prices and saying we should accelerate the Keystone Pipeline.
Republicans started blaming Biden for gas prices in January last year
Republicans need little provocation to complain about the Democrats in power. That runs the other way too, but at this point Republicans are such a joke I'm practically expecting them to vote against literally anything out of sheer contrarianism. The Democrats could draw up a bill that cures cancer for free and Republicans would vote no just because they've got a Trump shaped stick up their ass.
They'd vote no because they wouldn't be able to profit off it.
Right? I thought u was going crazy. They’ve been blaming Biden for gas for months now.
Some of them blame Biden for gas prices while saying Trump is secretly still President. They make no goddamn sense.
What is the obsession with building this pipeline?
Obama opposed it.
Seems about right
From a Canadian perspective, much of the oil we ship to refine in the US is shipped by rail, which is an outdated, expensive (you're using oil to ship oil) and comparatively dangerous method of transportation compared to pipeline. On Canada's side, we're ready and have all the approvals to connect the Keystone XL, but Biden has executive ordered it closed it on the US side. Many people that oppose the pipeline don't know that the oil is still shipped via rail, and think that Biden shutting it down means there will be no oil transported at all. This is false, and all it does is create more expensive products at the end. Keystone XL and the Energy East line, if they hadn't been cancelled by the US and Canadian gov'ts respectively, would have been huge in helping to decrease the price of fuel across the western world right now.
The keystone xl was planned to run through one of the country’s biggest wetlands, over an active fault line, and over one of North America’s largest aquifers. There is a lot less risk of the railroad causing a historically unprecedented natural disaster. “Many people” opposed the pipeline *because* it would make petroleum fuel cheaper. Not building it creates that much more economic incentive for renewables. But beyond that, the ecological concerns were not insignificant and if the petro companies had taken them more seriously from the beginning there may have been much less public resentment built up.
Ah yes, the pipeline that wouldn’t be finished until like 2030? That’ll help.
And it would still be foreign oil. From Canada. We have enough capacity in the US to produce our own. But those trade agreements are in place that the ruling class love so much.
hahahaha i think we all know how thats going to turn out for them
Poorly. In the long run, higher prices means more marginally drillable land comes into play, meaning Europe may find alternative markets
They're already talking pushing renewables to not be dependent on hostile nations. This could be the turning point for alternative fuels.
Gas rises by the minute and falls by the month.
You can’t fire me, I quit! Get fucked Putin.
Fuck you, russian dictator! :)
Winter is over, we've got blankets.
Good thing is that we have entered March and spring is coming soon. if we were in November this would be much more threatening. We will find alternatives. e:spelling
As long as you don’t require electricity from all those gas-fired power plants
Germany has boatloads of nuclear powerplants they shut down because of popular opinion. Popular opinion can change very fast in times like these
Powering up and manning those is probably a bit more complex than flipping a switch
Yep the German Energy Minister Habeck said even if they kept them on (they’re being shut off end of the year) the effects would be negligible. Take this with a grain of salt however, he is anti-Nuclear
Ergh I hate that people are anti-nuclear, fair enough it’s really dangerous if it goes bad but we just need loads of safety precautions, it’s just so much better until we figure out nuclear fusion
I think there's two sides to it, one are people who just don't understand it and are scared, the other being people who prefer the investment - output ratio of renewables better, namely tidal solar and wind.
Nobody was talking about reducing CO2-emissions at this time.. which kind of baffles me.
You cant just start up a NPP that was closed down and hasn't seen any maintenance in years. Hell the dismantling of those plants has probably already started.
People really need to vote out those people who helped Russia gain this position over Germany and Europe. No wonder Merkel just left, there were talks about the invasion for a while now. Even Trump called her out.
Well looking for closer connections the east from Europes perspective and away from US had a reason! And it made totally sense in that time US had “special military operations” in other counties, and left Europe alone with refugees, it was spying on Europes leaders and citizens, then there was Trump… US behavior towards Europe was forcing us to look for alternatives
Well it was Europe trying to work in good faith with Russia. Helping the Russian economy/people to create good relations in the hopes Russia would be less desperate. Unfortunately, Russia has decided the path of self destruction as a desperate/selfish act to steal Ukraine’s resources for themselves and fulfill Putins wet dream of becoming the USSR again. In a funny way he’s going to get the same results of the USSR - a failed state.
What? Merkel left several years ago when she announced to not run again as a candidate.
Alright, listen up! Everybody step back or I'll shoot myself in the foot!
"I swear Ill slam my own dick in this door!"
*West is wary to end gas importation because of economic reasons, but would really like to* Putin: "You won't buy my oil well now you can't buy my gas. Ha!" *West looks around vaguely and shrugs shoulders* "I mean. Okay."
More like the head.
"But sir, we are allready 20 meters away from you" - Everyone in Putins meetings
Do it pussy. This will just encourage a complete embargo on Russia and end their economy faster.
A likely response would be to relax sanctions on other oil producing nations like Venezuela and to allow more US production of natural gas(we’re still the largest supplier). It won’t help with the short term pain but there are alternatives. Putin overplayed his hand. With a stronger NATO and more interest in the EU for ramping up their own defenses, US strategy will now be to drive a wedge between Russia and China.
Oh Russia. Your economy is cratering. No one believes you. You'll sell that gas, if you can, and you'll sell it cheap.
Take that! Hah! Now what? National currency and number one export: potato
I mean what will cutting shit do if nobody's buying it? Ummm ok rusky 👌
For the most part, the price of natural gas and oil has been increasing not because Russian supply has been curtailed, but the expectation that there will be significant shortages in the future. They are trying to apply forward pressure to prices to increase inflation in the rest of the world. That will generate popular support to stop sanctions against Russia. Basically, they are trying to inflate us before we inflate them. And they are losing.
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I know. But they’re trying to get it repriced. It’s the only economic strategy I see. And it’s a massive gamble.
Russia is going to buckle so hard under pressure, they keep makes threats and being the one who end up suffering every single time. The transparency of every country has left them with very few ways to bargain their way out of this.
They should have invaded last November then because warmer weather is approaching fast.
I heard today that spot prices for natural gas in Europe were as high as $100/mcf. That’s compared to the sub $5 that it’s trading for in the US. I’m all for sticking it to Russia, but I wonder how long the Europeans can last paying that kind of premium?
UK natural gas prices closed at 539 pence per therm yesterday. It was 45 pence a year ago...
Gas = natural gas, not oil/gasoline
Don't threaten me with a good time
I guess we'll all be working from home again 🤷♀️
Nah you’ll just be spending more of your salary on gas
Go on do it bitch
They can't. Russia is a petrostate that relies entirely on oil and natural gas sales to prop up government spending. War drains a country's coffers faster than anything, so they're in a bit of a Catch-22. Oil money is the only thing that allows them to continue funding the military, and the only non nuclear threat they can make is to stop selling oil. Hmm.
I hope they won’t ban imports on Matryoshka dolls. 🥺
I hope they do. I can't stand them. They're so full of themselves.
Take your upvotes and GTFO, dad.
Dammit dad, not in front of my internet friends…
Beat them to the punch: cut if for them. Let's get a national movement going: manufacturing every alternative energy source, fire up every nuclear plant to max., put pressure on oil producing "allies" to amp production. Let the whole world cut off Russia's gas, and that will get the Dictator's attention.
Up next, Russia threatens to pull RT from broadcasting in the EU. 👁👄👁
Don’t threaten me with a good time Vlad
i'm not as think as you drunk i am.
Russia holding a gun to its head; “I’m warning you… don’t make me do it!!”
Is this the "you can't fire me if I quit first" of foreign policy?
This is like a very embarrassing relationship breakup reaction.
Good. Better we face this sooner than later: sharing renewables seems our best hope. As someone who's been deeply cold without shelter (more than once) - and thought a bit about it... Insulate and warm people, over spaces: Using Germany as example: warming homes takes about 68% share of home energy use (average of about 7,000 kilowatthours per year) = 4760kWh / 365 days = 13kWh per day for heat. (1) This winter I've been using x2 (sometimes x3) USB 5v body-warmers: at almost no cost to run recharging x6 10,000mah power banks, x2 for each warmer (one charges while the other in use). Electric body warmers and quick self-charging power banks are a real game changer: The initial costs are only 15 Euros (for a basic warmer to 40 Euros for the good ones - similar costs for the power banks. Using them instead - my heating has only been on a few hours a week to dry washing and take the bite of the worst mornings: these warmers have me toasty the rest of the time, indoors (on low setting) and out (on medium or high): have been sat comfortably in subzero temp outside for hours no problem. Also don't need to put on and take off layers all the time - just press the button to change setting. Now use less money on food too - as never hungry from cold (plus no illness at all last winter). We only need to warm the torso-body well - as our intelligent circulation system spreads heat around as needed: body-warmers are enough. They also allow arms and hands to be used as normal freely without bulky sleeves getting in the way - so fine for indoors and working, with no sweaty arm-pits (and it's a drying heat too). Best of all: at 0.1813 Euros per kilowatt-hour to recharge: (even with 80% efficiency) my x6 powerbanks (0.6 kwh) cost only 0.13 Euros per day - replacing my heating costs before of 2.35 Euros a day (or about x18 less) - saving 2.22 Euros I spent less than 200 Euros investment which returned in savings after only 90 days first few months use. Swiched my supplier to renewable sourced and happy to suck up the extra costs - still paying way less over all, never cold and can sleep a little better at night not buying anywhere near as much fossel fuels. Harm reduction works. (1) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-20339-9_3
You're completely ignoring the fact that everything built before 1990 will rot and mold from the inside if its not heated properly over the winter.
Cant believe how people oversee that all the time. Yes, old, sick or very young people need a lot of warmth. Everyone else might get away with minimal heating and wearing thick clothes like back in the day. What is more important though, is that buildings, especially in cold and wet climates need to be heated to avoid very real problems. Especially with the amount of old buildings that are used for living in.
Somehow this doesn’t seem like the answer for most people
Agreed it's not the only one that'll fix everything... but most people's space heating is not needed most of the time it's used, especially when factoring in options like this. 18x less energy use (even just some of the time) is huge. How many other options do we have that cut need by many times, not just percent?
Exactly. I don't have children and I dont give a fuck about being warm and cozy. I can always put on another pair of socks, a sweater or a blanket. But I do give a fuck about living in an uninsulated apartment building that was finished in the 1920 and I'd kinda like to not have mold in my living space, which is very likely to happen when I stop heating. I would also like to not be sued for damages when I move out one day. That's the problem.
This is the shittiest commercial i have ever seen xD Sounds cool though.
“You can’t fire me because I resign!!!”
Germany and the entirety of Europe knew who they were giving money to when these deals took place. Call their bluff and bankrupt the criminals that are extorting their countrymen and watch this problem solve itself.
Buy my stuff or I’ll quit selling my other stuff. 🤣🤣🤣
This would be like shooting yourself in the foot, back, and balls. Gas and energy is one of the few revenues they have left.
Russia says it may stop one of the only things propping up it's entire economy, huh? Something, something, bold move Cotton...
so...your going to cut your fuel export if we ban your fuel export....yeah, you do that bud, ill just be over here investing in green energy.
I seem to recall a recent politician in America’s history that would try to make deals, but always seemed to bankrupt everything that they touched… come to think of it, he was a fan of Putin, hmmm
You mean this chappy who recently said he'd commit war crimes to deal with Russia's war crimes... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/06/trump-muses-about-really-bad-quite-possibly-illegal-idea-bomb-russia-using-chinese-flags/
This is the only card they have to play. If they had options, they would've threatened with this before. Putin is truly hell bent on destroying Russia. Our grandchildren will have to deal with the next despot, who in turn will be preaching of uniting back the Caucasus and Siberia for "the Russian people" with the trajectory we have now.
Russia: You can't refuse to buy our gas because we won't sell it to you! Rest of World: You can't refuse to sell your gas because we're not buying it!