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Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

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Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#61

Post by mnky9800n »

hkpack wrote: post #42
mnky9800n wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter what Russia is fighting with. The war is not about winning, it is about war profiteering. Both for Putin and the West. While the West gives out fat new contracts to build new weapons, Putin has stolen much of the grain produced in Ukraine and launders it through ship to ship transfers then sells to Egypt and other countries. This has made billions for Putin in the last year alone. Putin wins if the…

> war profiteering As with anything, there will be the ones who profits from it. Always has been, always will be. But the overall description is a ridiculous oversimplification of what is happening.

feel free to add details you think are missing.

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#62

Post by libertine »

peepeepoopoo91 wrote: post #60
libertine wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides that being a propagandized lie and an iteration that fell off because it didn't stick, you could at least make an effort and provide a source. But I did forget about this Russian propaganda point, thank you for pointing it out. Also, I should add the: - USA is building bioweapons labs in Ukraine; - There are CIA bases in Ukraine;

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Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#63

Post by kamaal »

sieste wrote: post #15
dingosity wrote: post #7

Should we be scared? [asked in all seriousness, not as a quip.]

Since no amount of us being scared is going to make any difference whatsoever, I'd say no.

Its crazy how individuals can't decide if they just want to be left alone to live in peace.

I hope someday if life becomes multi planetary, there will be a way to just step away from any fight and just go live wherever you want to.

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#65

Post by badpun »

leviliebvin wrote: post #45
badpun wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia was always the weird case of a country with a cruel, Asian steppe mentality (early in the days of the Dutchy of Moscow, they were conquered and thoroughly subjugated by the Mongols, the Mongol mark of cruelty and disdain for human life is still there in XXI century) that is also Christian. The Christianity has confused Western leaders throught the ages, who thought Russia is like any other European country, an…

Right. The English, the French, the Germans, the Dutch, the Swedish, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Romans, the Greeks, the Austrians, the Belgians, ..., the Cossacks ... none of those ever did anything to show any kind of "cruel mentality". Right. This kind of completely unhinged dehumanizing nonsense is bordering hate speech.

I am not dehumanising Russians, merely their political culture and political traditions. A country can have a lot of decent people and, at the same time, be a hate and death-monger - just see the Nazi Germany. All depends on current leadership and their policies, which in large part depends on country's political culture and history (e.g. Putin wouldn't really fly as a leader of Canada, and Trudeau would get murdered in no time if he somehow became a leader of Russia).

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#66

Post by gmuslera »

Nothing had happened so far, so odds are diminishing with time, not growing up. At least for most people. Alert fatigue, if you want to call it somehow.

The potential is there. If it can happen, given enough time, it surely will. But the odds of happening in a specific moment, at least while tensions are not higher than when it didn't happened anything in the past, may be seen as lower.

Reality is different than what it used to be in the 60-70's. But that also means that new factors can be in play, for good and bad.

In any case, I think is more sure to be afraid of climate change. It won't blow up tomorrow, but is something that is escalating up, and it may be trigger for more negative things, including, but not limited to, world conflicts.

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#68

Post by badpun »

leviliebvin wrote: post #34
badpun wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Escalation is using force, not diplomacy. Force is something that Putin understands very well.

Again, I see no reason why Putin would back down. Instead it reinforces his worldview that the West is the enemy and not interested in any kind of fair balance of power. As for who understands diplomacy, one wonders if the US/EU understand diplomacy. China seems to have no problem dealing with Russia. Somehow the US/EU with their combined might cannot manage it.

He will back down when the war becomes too expensive, economically and politically. It's a war of attrition after all.

As to China, Russia's beefs with China were always marginal (Russian Far East is not a very important part of the country), so no wonder China have no problem dealing with Russia. They have no major points of contention, while sharing a common enemy.

As per the geopolitical game in Europe between the US and Russia, the problem is that Russia wants eastern and central europe to again become their "sphere of influence", without any regard for what those countries want. Those countries know that being in US' sphere of influence means prosperity and peace for them, while being in Russian sphere of influence means poverty, political oppression, corruption, rule of stupidity, and potentially wars (forced to send recruits to help Russia). That's the major problem here - Russia wants to force on a bunch of its neighbors something they never said they wanted. In turn, they go to US for defence against their abusive neighbor. It's not US forcing itself onto Central and Eastern Europe, it's those countries practically begging to be protected (Poland's foreign minister was once recorded saying that "we'll suck America's dick for peanuts as usual", because that's Poland's only play).

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#69

Post by gus_massa »

I try to keep some food at home (probably 2 weeks), it's just the normal food so it's rotating naturally. It's also helpful for weird local events that are very rare, but not unheard. (Hi from Argentina!)

I should keep more water, but I'm too lazy. I have only probably only two days that is too few.

If I had time, I'd pick some iodine pills. They are small and have a long shelf life.

Anything else is too difficult or too far from my control.

Re: Ask HN: Aren't you afraid of a possible world conflict?

#70

Post by libertine »

dingosity wrote: post #7

Should we be scared? [asked in all seriousness, not as a quip.]

No. But there's an attempt to make us scared (terrorism).

Yet you need to acknowledge, that the risk of nuclear exchange isn't 0%, just for the fact that the weapons exist, and that is completely out of our control.

Russia is doing what it wants, and they've been escalating this war since the invasion started in 2014, so it's not like they don't have agency and a mind of their own.

No one is trying to annex Russia, there's no external existential threat to them. Could they use nukes still? Yes, they could. Will they choose to seize to exist, and lose 100% of their territory, by nuking the US to try to get a fraction of that land? Doubtfully, and if they choose to do so, it would be out of our control anyway and would be a matter of time.

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