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Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

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Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#71

Post by kspacewalk2 »

criddell wrote: post #56
_bhjy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire invasion is illogical. There was arguably some sense to Crimea - there is no sense in this invasion.

My knowledge of Russian bureaucrats comes mostly from watching Chernobyl on HBO, but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't simply that Putin said he wanted Ukraine and nobody at the top could push back.

My knowledge of (not Russian but) post-Soviet bureaucrats comes from personal experience, I speak fluent Russian and follow their news/politics sporadically but over the past few decades. I think the way they are portrayed in Chernobyl is brilliant. It's a structure so permeated by apathy, corruption, bullying and grandstanding that it simply cannot effectively transmit information in either direction, whether top-down or bottom-up (but especially bottom up). It's clear that Putin was fed a steady diet of his own wishful thinking / propaganda, and he bought into it fully. If he had a realistic view of the world around him, he would have prepared a lot better for this war of aggression that he staked everything on.

And, as an aside, I think COVID started for the exact same reason as what's portrayed in Chernobyl. Chinese model of governance is not that different. When accurate sober assessments of facts on the ground are needed and speed is of the essence, its ineffectiveness takes over. Once the genie is out of the bottle and there's nothing to hide from superiors, and once Beijing sends over some adults to whip things into shape, the sheer scale of China's economy allows it to power through and suppress the crisis using draconian means. But for the first who knows how many weeks (certainly well before Jan 1 2020), it was much slower motion Chernobyl.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#72

Post by octopoc »

toyg wrote: post #59
octopoc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it seems like the globalist mindset that much of the west adopted blinded it to the geopolitical realities that still govern international relations. Remember the "Russian reset"[1]? It was a big red button that was supposed to reset Russian relations. Remember when Obama criticized Romney for saying the biggest threat in the future would be Russia? Obama laughed it off because "this isn't the cold war anymore."…

That's a confrontational mindset. In reality, there was a window post-1990 in which we (the US, Europe, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the most stable African countries) could have created the means to resolve global conflicts peacefully, or at least in a shared manner. The real victory of Desert Storm wasn't the military annihilation of a regional power in a matter of months, but the fact that it was achieved u…

> That's a confrontational mindset

We need to confront the problem of blind globalism.

> Escalating competition further and further is not the answer

Blind globalism is not the answer either, but that is what we've had for decades. It has resulted in a wide variety of terrible things for the countries advocating globalism. For example: a global pandemic, a decrease in biodiversity due to invasive species, slave-like conditions in countries like China, and IP theft on a staggering scale. I'm sure there are more consequences of blind globalism. My point is, we need to have a serious conversation about whether we should be traded with certain nations, whether we should be trading in certain essential items, etc.

Edit: just thought of a couple more problems with our current global trade setup: China can manufacture outside of the west's regulations designed to protect people's health and the environment, and the west has lost so many strategic skillsets and manufacturing capacity to China.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#73

Post by basedgod »

adventured wrote: post #28
ethbr0 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone probably of similar age to you, my views on GWB have definitely changed as I've aged. When I was younger, I actively protested, saw his presidency as the antithesis of my values, etc. At my current age, I believe more that there is no pure "good" in the world. What is good in one way, is by definition tinged with evil in others. And that pursuing one good requires doing (or at least allowing) some evil. An…

> Shipping weapons to Ukraine to defend its sovereign territory is also a good. But it creates evil by escalating battlefield lethality and depending on the service (and often sacrifice) of brave Ukrainians. Shipping those weapons does not create evil. The evil (Russian military aggression) is already there, the evil is responding to the weapons with escalation in an attempt to overwhelm to prevent defeat. The proof…

This is the same logic (albeit different analogy) of closing your eyes, outstretching your arms and swinging them widely. Somebody is still going to get hurt, even if they really should get out of the way.

Strewing together moral absolutes means you stop living in the real world. Violence and war brings more evil to the world, even if it is morally justified. Your failure to acknowledge any of this is appalling.

Somebody whose lost their entire extended family and village by mortar fire because the Ukrainians fought back will be in an objectively much worse position than under a harsh Russian occupation. Weapons, in this case, escalated the conflict and created evil for this person, no amount of moral whitewashing over "freedom" and "vanquishing the aggressor" absolves this.

It may very well be the case that the net utilitarian impact of Ukraine escalating their response to the invasion justifies the resistance, but we live in the real world, and nothing is as cut and dry as you claim, not even a hostile invasion by a despotic power.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#75

Post by davidzweig »

svilen_dobrev wrote: post #41
davidzweig wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's any help, I am helping to organise for the parents of my Ukranian friend to move to Bulgaria. And possibly a few other friends. It's picturesque in the mountains and Russian is widely spoken. Renting an appartment here is about 150 EUR/mo. If they are Russian speakers, they will have a bit easier time here than Poland, language-wise. Call me if I can help: +359 879 340194.

The overall campaign in Bulgaria was started and still lead by here: www.bg4ua.com There is now also some official governmental site: https://ukraine.gov.bg/ Donations are here.. about ~~130K so far, target is 0.5-1M : https://platformata.bg/en/kauzi/1544:bg4ua/details/campaign....

Thanks for the link. We have arranged for about 20 studio appartments to be made available for Ukranians, and, it's possible we could organise more. I submitted details to the google form on bg4ua website. Please give me a call to see what else we can do, if you are involved with them or otherwise, I'm up late (+359 879 340194).

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#76

Post by tut-urut-utut »

MagnumOpus wrote: post #46
Timwi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you remove Russia’s permanent veto right if they have the permanent right to veto that?

Soviet Union had a permanent veto right by statute. Russia only has it because people felt that Russia was the obvious successor despite leaving the Soviet Union before it was dissolved. If enough important countries agree that Russia has no veto, then they can rewrite convention...

Well, in that case UN would just cease to exist, for good or for bad. We really don't need yet another international organisation that only pretends that the international law exists and apply it selective only to weak countries, leaving USA, Russia, China & other to be above the law.

Selective law is worse than no law at all, and selective justice is worse than no justice at all.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#77

Post by redwood »

keybored wrote: post #61
redwood wrote: post #2

It is amazing how this inspiring willingness to fight for the bare essentials that the West has for so long forgotten the need to be ready to be fight for has transformed the West and given it meaning again. Reminds me of Leo Strauss, a philosopher often cited by the neoconservatives and therefore of course dismissed by most of us but I think there's more nuance in his understanding of the world and this feels to me…

It would be horrible if this war would end up reinvigorating neoconservative thought or any kind of ideology that sees geopolitics in terms of good vs. evil or ideology1 vs. ideology2 (e.g. freedom vs. totalitarianism).

Why?

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#78

Post by keybored »

redwood wrote: post #77
keybored wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be horrible if this war would end up reinvigorating neoconservative thought or any kind of ideology that sees geopolitics in terms of good vs. evil or ideology1 vs. ideology2 (e.g. freedom vs. totalitarianism).

Why?

Because geopolitics cannot be explained by some "clash of values" or good vs. evil conflict. That stuff only happens in fiction.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#79

Post by AniseAbyss »

cguess wrote: post #30
pantulis wrote: post #6

"(...) returned to Kharkiv to do something useful for the city. With no military experience and even no driving license, I do things on a very small scale" The sense of due duty to your community beyond your family and your own life. I am not really sure I would have the courage to do that. To Zverok: respect and good luck. To the rest: support Ukraine.

You may be shocked what you're capable of when everything is on the line. Don't count yourself out until you (very hopefully never) are in the same situation.

Ukraine is at a crossroads: join the rest of Europe or be dragged down into a dictatorship run by oligarchs. Giving up is not an option. If Russia wins the country is fucked for another generation.

Re: Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here

#80

Post by tut-urut-utut »

notafraudster wrote: post #27
ethbr0 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone probably of similar age to you, my views on GWB have definitely changed as I've aged. When I was younger, I actively protested, saw his presidency as the antithesis of my values, etc. At my current age, I believe more that there is no pure "good" in the world. What is good in one way, is by definition tinged with evil in others. And that pursuing one good requires doing (or at least allowing) some evil. An…

My own views sort of shifted but not in the same way. I was 17 when the War in Iraq started. My view at the time was of very skeptical support; having lived through the 90s I had an engrained view that the world needed to use force to help prevent ethnic cleansing. We didn't intervene early enough or strongly enough in Rwanda, and that particularly bothered me. After the beginning of the war, I pretty quickly became…

Trump is still the only US president in this century that didn't start a war, neither directly nor indirectly. He should get some credits because of that.

As for his internal politics, as a non-American I don't care, as long as USA isn't concerned about internal and external politics of the countries I have some connection with.

And also in that regard, the best US president ever since I remember, and that goes back around to Reagan time.

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