Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe deciding to depend on Russia for their energy and not focusing on defense spending is the unbelievable part to me, but they've been doing this for quite some time now. They walked right into it. Russia is doing what they've always done and always will do.
The US for all their huge defense spending has been involved in a lot more wars than the EU. So defense spending as prevention of war isn't really a thing either. Nor is winning them (forget Afghanistan?)
Alexei Navalny has died
981–990 of 1001 posts
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#982So in latest news, last opposition figure in Russia dies together with any hope for regime change while Russia's war effort is starting to get some traction with it's overwhelming man power and Ukraine is forced to cede more territory all while west is busy either with it's in-fighting or comparing each others superior GDP and how Russia will crumble just any day now (TM). Man, are we in for a ride next decade in Eur…
Navalty had some pretty scary things to say about Ukraine as well. To summarize: He thought there are no differences between Ukranian people and Russian people, he thinks that Crimea is rightfully Russia's (finder's keepers!), and he thinks it would be nice for Belarus and Ukraine to just be absorbed by Russia and become part of Russia again. He was only against the war in Ukraine when it became obvious it was not go…
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#983Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe deciding to depend on Russia for their energy and not focusing on defense spending is the unbelievable part to me, but they've been doing this for quite some time now. They walked right into it. Russia is doing what they've always done and always will do.
The strategy of economic integration as a way to reduce military tension has worked very well in many other instances. It doesn't seem like an obviously insane thing to have tried.
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#984Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you propose the west avoids conflict with Russia and China? Is there any examples in history of appeasement leading to less bloodshed?
> How do you propose the west avoids conflict with Russia and China? There's a lot of things the West can do without throwing nukes at the problem: - arming ourselves and our allies (especially Taiwan) to the teeth - supporting exiled and in-country opposition - intervening against hostile operations (such as "police stations") on our own soil - strengthen links with "global south" countries to minimize Chinese/Russi…
These games played by global powers hurt a lot of the smaller countries. Lot's of Ukrainian civilians have needlessly lost their lives
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#985Earlier quoted context omitted.
Martyrdom. Navalny calculated that this process would be watched and documented through to the very end. He hoped that might be significant, perhaps even sufficient.
Yes. Unfortunately, he miscalculated and threw his life away by failing to appreciate the conditions. Similar to standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, this was and now proved to be a ineffective and futile act in a country whose populace refuses to stand up to Putin, oppression, or corruption. It's likely Putin will continue to be the de facto "elected" dictator of Russia until he dies and his oligarch pal…
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#986The 2022 documentary 'Navalny' is important and explains how the anti-corruption campaigner got to that terrible place, being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and still deciding to go back to Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navalny_(film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_HsKCWEHw (trailer)
I never understood why he went back to Russia.
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#987Earlier quoted context omitted.
What future? Between the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the collapse of the USSR, Russia has only a few generations left before experiencing demographic collapse. There simply aren't enough young men there to keep the Russian population growing and the population there doesn't value diversity enough to consider producing more Russian children with immigrants. This is what many believe (e.g., Peter Zeihan) to be…
> This is what many believe (e.g., Peter Zeihan) to be the real reason behind the invasion of Ukraine. This does not make any sense. Banning birth-control would be the most cost-effective way to increase the birth-rate, stronger social programs being a strong second. Much of what I've heard from Zeihan sound memey – like camp-fire stories or what your older brothers friends would tell you – without anything meaningfu…
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#988Earlier quoted context omitted.
What future? Between the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the collapse of the USSR, Russia has only a few generations left before experiencing demographic collapse. There simply aren't enough young men there to keep the Russian population growing and the population there doesn't value diversity enough to consider producing more Russian children with immigrants. This is what many believe (e.g., Peter Zeihan) to be…
Is this any different from any other country? I don’t think their birth rates are that different from South Korea or Italy or Canada
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#989Earlier quoted context omitted.
What future? Between the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the collapse of the USSR, Russia has only a few generations left before experiencing demographic collapse. There simply aren't enough young men there to keep the Russian population growing and the population there doesn't value diversity enough to consider producing more Russian children with immigrants. This is what many believe (e.g., Peter Zeihan) to be…
There is not enough Young women as MEN cant give a birth, still russian demographic looks terrible and this is very good news for all russian neighbors and EU as last imperial country in Europe will die
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#990Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never understood why he went back to Russia.
I have held the exact same question. I don't say this lightly. His decision was stupid. He would've been much more effective as a critic with a Twitter account. You can't criticize the government when you're not free to do so.