boris being boris:

Boris Johnson has confronted US Republicans’ scepticism about providing more arms to Ukraine, saying it was time to give Kyiv the tools – including F16 aircrafts – to reclaim land taken by Vladimir Putin since the 24 February invasion. He also said he now supported ending the ambiguity by allowing Ukraine to join Nato. With support for Ukraine slipping in US opinion polls, Johnson has used a speech to the Atlantic Council thinktank, TV appearances, an article in the Washington Post and meetings with senior Republican senators to try to stiffen US resolve. His visit was understood to be a freelance operation and not on behalf of Number 10. He said: “Give them the deep fire artillery systems, give them the tanks, give them the planes, because they have a plan. They know what they need to do.”

He dismissed claims that the Ukrainians would be unable to fly sophisticated US planes, saying Ukraine had already shown their ability to use modern Nato technology. Referring to the repeated debates inside Europe about the risk of escalation if a specific weapon was provided, he said that these debates had all ended with agreement to provide the weapons. “Let us do it now and end this delay because that is the humane thing to do.” Admitting his thinking had changed, he said there was an inescapable logic to offering Ukraine Nato membership, saying Putin had ended the argument to keep Ukraine out of Nato by invading. In an attempt to demolish Republican talking points on Ukraine he urged the US to realise that it was a cost-saving to win the war, saying the cost of defending the borders of the old Soviet Union would be infinitely higher in the long run. “For a relatively tiny outlay in expenditure, we will have greatly strengthened the entire Euro Atlantic area, and bear in mind that America’s contribution is noble and huge, but it is still only 5% or 6% of the annual US defence budget so far, and has helped to degrade about 20% – some say 50% – of Putin’s war machine. “To those who say we may be denuding our own arsenals by giving the support, I say what is the point in deploying tanks and planes in North Carolina or North Rhine-Westphalia when Ukrainians could be using them now, where they are needed to help assure our collective security for decades?”

Challenging another largely Republican concern, he said: “Putin won’t use nuclear weapons, because he would instantly extinguish the last flicker of Chinese support, he would lose every one of the world’s swing voters from India to Africa, to Latin America, he would terrify his own people who would live in dread of the consequences for them, he would plunge Russia into such a cryogenic freeze of economic isolation as to make the present sanctions regimes seem like a blessing.” A Russian capture of Kyiv “would have emboldened the Kremlin to increase the intimidation and threats towards every country and region on the fringes of the old Soviet empire. It would have told the Chinese all they need to know about our reluctance to stand up for freedom and democracy in the South China seas or anywhere. It would have sent a signal to every opportunist autocrat around the world that international borders are fungible and frangible and can be changed by force, and we will not do a damn thing to stop it. And the guilt for the whole Ukrainian tragedy will then be upon us.” Johnson said he had met several top senators in Washington this week, including Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The former prime minister also defended Brexit, saying it had given the UK greater freedom to challenge some of the thinking of France and Germany that dominated the Normandy format, the main means by which the EU related to the Ukraine issue. “Because of Brexit we have been able to do things differently,” he claimed.


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Bless.
(just to be clear, it is my position all of the above is monumentally a stupid idea).

This post was edited by ferdia on Feb 2 2023 12:17pm

What's so moronic about the NATO hawk approach is that even in their wishlist scenarios and 'unlimited support', they're not investing the kind of resources needed to actually defeat Russia. Biden had the opportunity to declare that we would defend Ukraine, and dithered and explicitly said we wouldn't. Right now we're looking at two real possible outcomes, either Russia wins with a conventional war- which is looking increasingly likely- or we give enough heavy weaponry that they do indeed use nuclear weapons and contradict all the denials by hawks that that could totally never happen. Because as long as Russia treats this as existential, that's the replacement to the "they retreat and lose a conventional war" outcome.
We've seen in how many proxy conflicts now that foreign fighters supplied with US weapons but not supported by boots on the ground, really cannot hold themselves against any kind of organized opposition in the long term. Not even a superpower like Russia, we lost Afghanistan to the Taliban. The 'best' case scenario in the hawk approach is that we make the war costly for Russia, in blood and treasure. And then what? It doesn't serve our geopolitical aims, its driving a wedge into our international relations and supply chains and jump starting a new cold war except China is the true superpower and they're aligned with Russia.


This is the same simple logical argument that deconstructed Iraq, deconstructed Afghanistan and Syria and Yemen and so many other interventions: "What's the endgame?"
If our choices are between nuclear war and losing the Ukraine proxy war, we're in a lose:lose scenario. Make it cost as much as we want, if Russia holds only the separatist east DPR / LPR / Crimea, they've already 'won' from a strategic perspective. If NATO holds onto the bombed out shell of the western-aligned west Ukraine, now a militaristic Nazi dictatorship with no infrastructure and lots of refugees, what have we won?

We had the opportunity to take a hard line with Russia and use overt threats and military buildup to hold Ukraine, we didn't. But at least our historical failed proxy wars didn't threaten us with the end of civilization.

Apparently, we've got higher living standards in Northern Europe and some parts of US. I am from Hamburg, for example. What is that higher living standard actually?
Let's see:
There's almost alwats shit weather everyday. Most of the time it's grey and cold. All you see when you go out are buildings built with red bricks everywhere (standard post WW2 material) and some artificial parks. Hamburg counts as one of the more greener cities by the way. Any person from Italy, Spain or France has got sun most of the time. When they go out they see really beautiful surroundings. You always wonder why they're so dominant in mode branch. Well, how're you supposed to know whether something is beautiful or not when all you see is grey, rainy weather. Is that superior quality of life?
About housing, lots and I mean lots of people in western world live on rent. That concept doesn't exist there. Almost every person has got a house or an apartment. They always buy with mortgage then sell the house if they have to move to another city. Why? Because the concept of rent is a big scam. You're basically on subscription to have a roof over your head. Each time, you pay rent, you throw huge amount of money out of the window. So people living there might seem "poor" from a Northern European perspective but they own their flats/houses.
Quality of food, what does Northern Europe has to offer? A single small city in France or Italy might have more dishes than all Northern Europe together. They've got a dish, their regional version with their own identity. Lasagne tastes differently and has got different ingredients based on which region you go to and eat it. Our fruits are mostly unripe, imported, frozen fruits from elsewhere via ships. They never taste like they should. Our "higher living standard" amounts to throwing away about half of the stuff we important which doesn't even taste well. Any native from the fruits' country of origin would describe them as oversized and tasting like water. Why? We don't have the culture to discern and reward good fruits. We simply buy the bigger, shiny ones specially made for ignorant people because they're sold per weight units

So after you work in a building all day, what do you do afterwards? Do you go to a pub to drink beer and "socialize"?
They meet up with each other, sing, talk, exchange information, go to theatres and other offerings in their vicinity. Even a shitty small town there has got a literature club, theatre or other cultural events. They've got food and wine tasting. Any person over there, even an immigrant who grew up in Italy, can tell you everything about their town. If I ask a kid here why Alster is called Alster they'd look at me with a surprized pikachu face. Last but not least, Italy and Spain have got enough agricultural output to keep themselves afloat even during the end of the world.

This is why I think they aren't going to be really in trouble anytime soon, even if western Europe goes down the drain because they've got their own identity/culture.

The only thing really superior about us is our currency. If you're into hookers, you can get more for the same money in other countries with much better quality. Most "comfort" devices we have are basically electricity wasting stuff so we can be more lazy, move less and get fat/sick. I've never seen the amount of fat people I saw in UK in any mediterranen country. They move more, eat healthy and get more sun. US is supposedly worse. Our youth is also getting overweight.

What do we do then? We work as defacto slaves our arses off for higher ups to enjoy more of the real quality of life where you're allowed to go 1-2 weeks per year without ever truly knowing what's going on there. We don't develop our spiritual/intellectual side at all. We stagnate as a population of sheep.

This post was edited by babun1024 on Feb 2 2023 01:19pm

Pls tell us how you rly feel.

Haha but this is a problem across the modern western world. It’s just a giant rat race of meaninglessness.

As corporate slave i oft fantasize about owning a little beachfront property on a Greek island instead of this modern slavery.

This post was edited by ofthevoid on Feb 2 2023 01:50pm

i find the crusade against renting fairly funny considering ive never met someone dwelling in a shitty apartment that i think is fit to operate a household and property. nor do they seem like the type keen to learn.

my wife's cousin is so anti-handy that when he bought an early 1900s house that needed work he actually hired a contractor on retainer. just gave the guy 2000$ "in case something comes up". whatever smooth handyman talked him into that con good on you, the guy's a dweeb.

Thank you for the explanation! Makes sense to me

Somebody get this man a lasagne.

I am surrounded by stupid "intelligent" people who brag about their new iphone models or how cool they are. If I'd ask them how that piece of tech makes them a better person or how an Iphone works or what they'd need one for if they've got the previous model they'd struggle to answer Then they show me photos of their vacation in staged tourist places from Dubai or Spain. They don't realize they do exactly the same shit everyone else does over there. Our lifestyle is like that wet boomer dream from 70s. They think they and everyone else HAS to live the way those ads were at their time with lawnmower, family, a dog and lots of useless crap they were indoctrinated with to sell more of the useless stuff to be able to buy more of useless stuff
I just want to collect enough money and experience on my CV to start my own shit. That's the only way, let other people work for you or you aren't going anywhere.
As about your fantasy, buying cheap property is very lucrative when everything goes well but during hard times which are going to come you're supposed to be a part of the community so people care about you and don't throw you down the drain. Unless you know someone there or are married to a Greek woman, chances are high you wouldn't "integrate" yourself enough for people to care about you. Greek is also a very hard language to learn.

The same holds true for Iran, China and India. You can't really strip them of their identity or culture. You can subdue them for a time being but they'll come back.

This post was edited by babun1024 on Feb 2 2023 03:25pm

So Russia is preparing for big offensive in 3 weeks eventually, 500 000 russian soldiers ? This is BIG.
While Putin is saying that after 80 years the nazis are back and it's time for BIG sacrifice like Stalingrad battle...
Seriously this guy is the queen of sluts.

we will see if he is more bark than bite

alot of Russians may be offended at German tanks being used against them enough to drum up more support