Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

Exactly. I'm French, we rely on Russian gas and petrol to the tune of 13 and 17 percent of our total consumption, which isn't much compared to other European countries, such as Germany, are much more reliant on Russian energy. For Europe to stop buying from Russia would be DEVASTATING to our economies...


... unless OPEC helps us out. So far they've been unwilling to do so. Can the USA help us negotiate?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope Biden announces tonight that we're cutting oil imports and going head-to-head with Russia, WWIII be damned. It's hard for me to imagine that China would intervene on Russia's behalf with almost the entire rest of the world against them. North Korea might, but they'd be erased.

We would expect a lot of pain for a while, but unless someone kills Putin in the near term, we're going to be at serious risk of his instability for a long time.

If Russia relies on China for all trade, it effectively becomes a vassal state. I'm fine with that because China keeps its other vassal in line to some extent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw the article the other day about the Ukrainian pilots picking up the donated fighter jets in Poland. Can anyone explain to me why their first stop wasn't to bomb the crap out of that slow-moving convoy headed to Kyiiv?

I'm really appreciative of the people with military understanding that have been explaining some of this stuff.

Also a little surprised that the Ukrianians aren't fashioning more IEDs -- I thought that was pretty easy tech now, and was used so heavily in the Middle East. If they lined the road with a bunch of those they might be able to at least slow down the convoy, no?

With all this talk and no action about the convoy, I'm worried that those trucks and tanks could contain gases/chemicals/bombs that would devastate the country and beyond if it were bombed.
Cratering the road in front of it could at the very least slow it down further.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m absolutely not willing to make very many sacrifices for Ukraine. I don’t want to pay more than I already do for anything and I damn sure don’t want my husband going to war nor do I want my life upended to make shit in factories for a war effort. Ukraine and Russia aren’t my problem just as I’m not theirs. I don’t feel bad about this either.

One of the downsides of the long involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is that some Americans have no stomach for engagement or involvement even when there are legitimate threats. I'm curious whether anything other than a direct attack on your neighborhood would be your problem or worth any sacrifice.

Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m absolutely not willing to make very many sacrifices for Ukraine. I don’t want to pay more than I already do for anything and I damn sure don’t want my husband going to war nor do I want my life upended to make shit in factories for a war effort. Ukraine and Russia aren’t my problem just as I’m not theirs. I don’t feel bad about this either.

Enjoy your upcoming nuclear winter.

Anonymous wrote:I’m absolutely not willing to make very many sacrifices for Ukraine. I don’t want to pay more than I already do for anything and I damn sure don’t want my husband going to war nor do I want my life upended to make shit in factories for a war effort. Ukraine and Russia aren’t my problem just as I’m not theirs. I don’t feel bad about this either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

Well, this interview with Fiona Hill (which everyone should read) will not make you feel any better:

She makes very stupid points. For instance:

<< “Ukraine has become the front line in a struggle, not just between democracies and autocracies but in a struggle for maintaining a rules-based system in which the things that countries want are not taken by force,” Hill said. “Every country in the world should be paying close attention to this.”>>

Is she kidding me? The West has never stopped taking things from developing nations by force and by making up pretexts to plunder non-white nations’ resources. Name a single country in Africa that is paid a fair amount for any of it resources. This whole Ukraine situation is nothing but white people talking about how they want to maintain a world order in which they and their white supremacist homeland, Europe, are safe from what they inflict on others. Personally, I find myself rooting for Putin to take it all down. Welcome to the real world, friends!

Anonymous wrote:I’m absolutely not willing to make very many sacrifices for Ukraine. I don’t want to pay more than I already do for anything and I damn sure don’t want my husband going to war nor do I want my life upended to make shit in factories for a war effort. Ukraine and Russia aren’t my problem just as I’m not theirs. I don’t feel bad about this either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

the key word here is *after*. We are in the middle of a war, not after it. If we continue after it ends, that would be bad. But during a war you want us to give up?

Yes. PP does want to give up.

Don’t speak for me please! Just explore all options prior to his inevitable escalation.

What options are you envisioning?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

Well, this interview with Fiona Hill (which everyone should read) will not make you feel any better:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

I'd make the same sacrifices my grandparents made in WWII.

I think about that a lot. I don't think most Americans are familiar with the sacrifices people made in WWII (other than sending kids off to war). My grandfather ran a gas station during WWII, and my dad collected ration cards. I saw an economist on CNN saying we had to be really careful about some of hte sanctions because of the effect on energy costs, and how they are already high and no one wants to pay more at the pump. And I was thinking "Yeah, people are willing to let Ukrainians die rather than pay more at the pump." To be fair, we weren't willing to pay more at the pump after 9/11, when the Saudi's financed the murder of thousands of Americans. Our dependence on cheap foreign oil has led to a really sad outcomes.
THis is really the time to do it, too -- at least we're not headed into winter when people will need heating oil.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

the key word here is *after*. We are in the middle of a war, not after it. If we continue after it ends, that would be bad. But during a war you want us to give up?

Yes. PP does want to give up.

Don’t speak for me please! Just explore all options prior to his inevitable escalation.

Anonymous wrote:I hope Biden announces tonight that we're cutting oil imports and going head-to-head with Russia, WWIII be damned. It's hard for me to imagine that China would intervene on Russia's behalf with almost the entire rest of the world against them. North Korea might, but they'd be erased.

We would expect a lot of pain for a while, but unless someone kills Putin in the near term, we're going to be at serious risk of his instability for a long time.