War

Striker

Chill War

I don’t usually embed Twitter stuff as who knows when it will disappear (just take too-large screenshots), but that is hella precise. It says “airstrike” but with what? I know the Ukrainians probably won’t release that but the explosion was fairly contained and had no pyro at all. My guess is that it was a bunker-penetrating bomb with minimal explosive yield to bring the building down but not do a lot of collateral damage.

But nice strike. Wonder what platform that came off of.

Putin Worship

Chill Politics, War

I find many people’s views on Russia and Ukraine terribly naïve and vile. Alas, many of these people are ones I formerly liked and respected.

It’s a terrible thing to realize that those you formerly appreciated as thoughtful and empathetic are just fine with the genocide of Ukrainians and the high likelihood of Russian invasion of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. And then the concomitant multiple scores of thousands of deaths of US citizens as we will be fighting in those countries too.

I cannot say I understand and frankly, I do not wish to.

New Newfoundland

Chill Politics, War

I’ve seen more than one person arguing that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is justified because Russia thinks that the Ukrainians are actually Russians1.

I think that Canadians are really Americans with worse haircuts and food. Ergo, that means we should invade Canada and correct their Tim Hortons- and poutine-worshipping ways.

See how insane that sounds?

  1. Which isn’t even really true, but let’s say it is for the sake of argument here.

Darth Invader

Chill America Fuck Yeah, War

Is it true that the USA is basically immune to foreign invasion?

Immune? No. But invading the United States would be enormously difficult and would nearly require the cooperation of Mexico or Canada (or both). And like most countries with nuclear weapons, we’d nuke the shit out of our own territory before we’d allow the country to be fully taken. And here I am not just speculating — that exact scenario in war games is often the only time that nukes are used.

Any foe that attempted to invade the US would pay such a heavy price it’d almost never be worth it and the chance of success is low. Also, the US is gigantic and its geography extremely challenging.

And then if you somehow as an invader won against the organized military, you’d have to deal with a well-resourced and capable resistance after that.

Good luck with all that.

Criminy

Chill War

Dang people are clueless. So many are like, “That’s a war crime!” to things that definitely are not war crimes. And then are like, “Sinking civilian ships and killing civilians is not a war crime!” When that definitely is.

And it’s not just the Russian shills, either. Nearly everyone talking about it is absurdly clueless.

Chamberlain

Chill Politics, War

It’s still happening even with modern conflicts. Just today, saw some goober arguing that it’d be better (more “peaceful”) if Ukraine had just rolled over and surrendered to the Russians because Putin had very valid security concerns that justified killing tons of Ukrainians, and that the rest of Eastern Europe should also acquiesce when Putin comes calling (also for “peace”).

These people are terrible. But they are common.

Risk/Reward

Chill War

Ukraine: what might have been.

This is, mostly, nonsense. It’s a fantasy. A Putin bootlicker fantasy at that.

Here’s why: Russia’s support of “peace” here was really their attempting to take a chance to regroup after it looked like they truly might lose, and even possibly be driven out of Crimea. It’s absolutely clownish anyone believes this. Of course, Russia’s plan was to use this pause to consolidate and resume a full invasion (most likely) the next year after building back their force projection capability.

People who believe this dumbass article are some naïve, naïve motherfuckers. Jesus fucking Christ I can’t even.

Therm

Chill War

Using thermite against the enemy and enemy positions in war is legal and is neither a violation of the Geneva conventions or even of standard military conduct. It is illegal, however, when the Russians use thermite (as they have been) against civilians.

The Ukrainians have been using it exclusively against military targets, mostly for area denial. I would be doing the exact same thing in their place, as distateful as it is. I do not care about distasteful, however. As I would, the Ukrainians care about expelling the enemy from their home. Using thermite is the right thing to do to achieve that goal, and the correct way to use that tool.