By the way, this is fun, I'm learning a lot about how this game is played. Much appreciated.

Ok, well good luck to Ukraine in trying to defeat Russia. And good luck to Taiwan in trying to defeat China. I wish them well. I have my doubts that Israel going up against Egypt and Japan going up against China in the 1930s (when Japan was quite strong and China was in the middle of a civil war I g...

Ah, ok, thanks for explaining. So calling someone a Putin apologist is not an at-the-man argument? I believe you that there's thousands of Western media articles claiming that Putin said that he is chomping at the bit to expand the Russian empire. I don't believe that if we read his actual words, yo...

Um, yeah, there were some technological imbalances in those examples that tilt the other direction here. But anyway, I wish the Ukrainians and Taiwanese nothing but the best sincerely. I hope they make the very best of bad situations. What is it like to be 100% certain about everything, even when y...

Please point me to a speech where he’s indicated a desire to expand the Russian empire. I’m not aware of any. I’m sure it’s easy to find Western pundits who claim he’s said such things, but I’m unaware of any speeches where he’s said such. As to your veiled fallacious argument (is that called an ad ...

Um, yeah, there were some technological imbalances in those examples that tilt the other direction here. But anyway, I wish the Ukrainians and Taiwanese nothing but the best sincerely. I hope they make the very best of bad situations.

You are very welcome. I am happy to help. You see one difference between me and the Rand guys is I don't have anything to sell, so I am able to give you the simple, unvarnished truth, which is that a relatively small country next to a huge country has no fighting chance. The Rand guys have two aims:...

Ok, I'll explain it to you like you're five. Russia won't be losing this war with Ukraine. Russia is a huge powerful country right next to a smaller, much less powerful country. Russia won't lose this war. Therefore, Russia won't feel it needs to use nuclear weapons. Do you feel better now? I hope y...

The point is that the nuclear threat has been on the table all along. Any time you're messing around on the borders of a nuclear power, the nuclear threat is in play. That goes for the US border as well, of course. The US downplayed the nuclear threat early on in the Ukraine conflict because it suit...

Why is any of this a surprise? People are evil. Evil people do evil things. Every attempt to create heaven on earth has failed since man's first attempt to be like God. Why get in a dither over things you can't control? A complete waste of time, talent and energy in my opinion. The idea is that if ...

After my second shot of 5 hour energy, I'm back with more great thoughts. Here's how the Taiwanese should run a referendum on whether to make a deal with China or pursue full independence: 1. All people who will be fighting at the front lines in event of war, and their mothers, should get full votes...

Well either they knew that pushing NATO right up to his borders wouldn't cause him to use nuclear weapons or else they didn't care if a lot of Ukrainians got incinerated with nuclear weapons. I'm not sure which is worse. That's my unbacked claim about how their thinking must have gone. It's simple l...

Don't worry about that; that's just ridiculous propaganda. Russia has no need to escalate anything. They are doing just fine right now slowly grinding down the Ukrainian forces. I mean the point about nuclear weapons has always been on the table from the beginning of this conflict. Does the US have ...

Not true. Taiwanese are good. Mainland Chinese are bad. I read it in the New York Times, so it has to be true. If you disagree with me, you need to go to a reeducation camp. And to your earlier point, so you are saying that the Ukrainians and the Taiwanese get to decide for America how we spend our...

By the way, of course as a people we do love Taiwanese people as we love almost anyone (not Russians though or mainland Chinese, both of which are unredeemable ethnicities). Taiwanese isn't an ethnicity. The mainland and Taiwan are the same people, ethnically. I thought the same was basically true ...

Not true. Taiwanese are good. Mainland Chinese are bad. I read it in the New York Times, so it has to be true. If you disagree with me, you need to go to a reeducation camp. And to your earlier point, so you are saying that the Ukrainians and the Taiwanese get to decide for America how we spend our ...

It probably doesn't sound like it, but I do feel sorry for anyone in Taiwan. I should say almost anyone. I don't feel sorry for any Zelensky-type leaders in Taiwan who might lead them down the garden path to very likely destruction, all the while knowing that those leaders and their families can boa...

Caitlin is known as a staunch anti-imperialist, but to the surprise of some she recently came out with an incisive piece defending the policy of Chinese deterrence:

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/10 ... eterrence/

Well said. Barbaric tradeoffs don't seem to faze our leaders one bit. A while back just for kicks I looked up the happiness index for Ukraine and Russia for the year 2019 I think, so pre-Covid and pre-Ukraine war. It showed Russia with a lead over Ukraine in happiness. I have no idea who puts togeth...

And by the way, who won that civil war you mentioned? Mostly the Communists, but not entirely. Yet. And what exactly is the US's interest in Taiwan anyway? Are we just helping them out of the goodness of our heart, because we hate to see democracy fail anywhere in the world? I don't believe that fo...

And by the way, who won that civil war you mentioned?

No, I'm not asking them to do that. I'm asking them to carefully consider what they want to do. It's fine for Jefferson to decide that he would rather die as a freeman than live as a slave. Those are beautiful words, but let's not kid ourselves, they really are just words. It's not fine for Jefferso...

The first thing I can do is stop believing the lies fed to us by the media. Instead of being called the military-industrial complex, it should be called the military-industrial-media complex. After stopping believing the lies, further action becomes possible. Every time they tell us something, stop ...

No idea how it’s going to play out, but Ukraine needs to show results before the west grows weary of funding in. The Russians have adapted. Surely you're not suggesting that the west is only in this for their own interests? I thought the west was funding Ukraine out of the goodness of its heart due...

Both US and Russia sucks - does that work ? However, in this war Russia sucks way more ;D Russia is only doing what the US would do if the shoe was on the other foot (i.e., if Russia was moving its missiles up to our borders), and yet Russia is the bad guy here? Very interesting analysis. I would w...