Is Putin Mad?

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Psamathe
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by Psamathe »

reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 11:41am ....Nuclear war destroys everything for everyone including the planet itself!
Unless you lead a pretty isolated life, have plenty of well stocked bunkers and if you're firing the first shot you'll be well protected in some remote bunker with your favourite sycophants and everything you could dream of wanting ...

Of course as you say everything for/and everybody else is destroyed but if you can live with everything you've ever wanted stockpiled over the years then I suspect pressing that button vs a war crimes trial might swing the balance come decision time. Maybe for Putin all those "General Population" are as something of a nuisance, more ballot papers to substitute with fraudulent copies periodically ...

Ian
thirdcrank
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by thirdcrank »

The Civil Defence Corps existed for a couple of decades after WWII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Def ... 0personnel.

The significant thing from my POV was that it was disbanded in 1966 and its functions were transferred to the police which I joined in 1967. So, war duties were included in our training, both theoretical - explanations of things like fallout and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) - and practical. For the practical, Leeds City Council had kindly fenced off an area of housing designated for slum clearance left it standing which we inherited from the Civil Defence, complete with meeting hut. One skill (?) I learned was using a bucket of water + stirrup pump to extinguish a fire. We were told IIRC that this was to deal with incendiary bombs but before clever dick me could point out that incendiary bombs were tackled with sand heaped on with long-handled shovels, somebody asked what size nuclear bomb could be neutralised with a stirrup pump. It was the mismatch between the public information films we had seen, advising the public to whitewash windows and build a shelter under the dining table, remembering to take a torch, portable radio + batteries for both, and the stuff we had been shown illustrating the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

With promotion came the week-long regional war duties courses every four years. One perennial presentation came from the Army's educational corps.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Arm ... onal_Corps
The speaker was always a captain and the script was always the same, even if it was a different captain. A version of what Ossie posted earlier, the main point being that once the Red Army launched its armoured charge from East Germany, it would reach the North Sea within days in spite of all those NATO troops stationed in West Germany. Put another way, it was a broadly similar scenario to the German invasions of Europe in WWI and WWII. When it came to questions, my suggestion that the Red Army and Russians more generally might fall back and hunker down was summarily dismissed. As I've already posted, none of the speakers from the armed forces were there for my last war duties course and I see the education corps was downgraded (?) in 1992. The "Peace Dividend."
mattheus
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by mattheus »

Psamathe wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 11:33am ...
<snip>

I'm no analyst so personal opinion is that Putin has dug himself such a deep hole he's lost anyway. By all accounts he does not have enough troops even to hold Ukraine (should be win his war) so if NATO also joined it he'd have no choice other than back down or go nuclear. And my impression is he's so macho "strength is all" mentality means things like "backing down" are not an option he'd ever consider.

So whilst no certainties and vast numbers of variables I agree that it is a big risk.

Of course, if be gave the order one then wonders if saner heads might block that order from being enacted.

Ian
Sane heads in the Russian military have already blocked missile strikes on at least 2 occasions. (It wasn't the President ordering strikes, mind).
So that's another factor reducing the probability of nuclear armageddon. Putin does not have a Big Red Button directly wired to any missiles.
reohn2
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by reohn2 »

The Rouble sinks:- https://youtu.be/B8cw0iZ0cPw
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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mattheus
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by mattheus »

It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
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Mick F
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by Mick F »

There was a Russian historian lady on World at One R4 today. TBH, I thought she was ranting.

She - from what I could hear from her rants - is that Russia aren't the guilty party, and it's Ukraine that's to blame.

What is truth?
This forum?
YouTube?
BBC News?
The Russian point of view?

What is truth?
What-is-truth02.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
reohn2
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by reohn2 »

mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:21pm It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
No not all of it though it has it's uses,that came up on the feed whilst I was watching something else,so I thought I'd pass it as you do.

Where do get your news from?
Last edited by reohn2 on 9 Mar 2022, 3:37pm, edited 2 times in total.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
reohn2
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by reohn2 »

Mick F wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:29pm There was a Russian historian lady on World at One R4 today. TBH, I thought she was ranting.

She - from what I could hear from her rants - is that Russia aren't the guilty party, and it's Ukraine that's to blame.

What is truth?
This forum?
YouTube?
BBC News?
The Russian point of view?

What is truth?What-is-truth02.jpg
It's somewhere in the middle of all that,between the lines if you will.

One thing I do know though is that Putin keeps on attacking sovereign countries under auspices that they're threating Russia,and I feel that this time he's bit off more than he can chew.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
mattheus
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by mattheus »

reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:30pm
mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:21pm It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
No not all of it though it has it's uses,that came up on the feed whilst I was watching something else,so I thought I'd pass it as you do.

Where do get your news from?
Well I did USED to get it from R4 World At One ...
reohn2
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by reohn2 »

mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:56pm Well I did USED to get it from R4 World At One ...
That's not what I asked though is it?
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kylecycler
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by kylecycler »

mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:56pm
reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:30pm
mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:21pm It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
No not all of it though it has it's uses,that came up on the feed whilst I was watching something else,so I thought I'd pass it as you do.

Where do get your news from?
Well I did USED to get it from R4 World At One ...
Just lately, since this all kicked off, I've been listening to the BBC World Service (don't have a TV). But I watch YouTube all the time - a world in a box - everything's there, you just have to be a bit selective about it.

Even so, as with every comment on here (even our own!), you have to draw your own conclusions, and even then I can't.
UpWrong
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by UpWrong »

reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:30pm
mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:21pm It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
No not all of it though it has it's uses,that came up on the feed whilst I was watching something else,so I thought I'd pass it as you do.

Where do get your news from?
Here? :lol:
mattheus
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by mattheus »

reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 4:10pm
mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:56pm Well I did USED to get it from R4 World At One ...
That's not what I asked though is it?
I get some of it from R4. Not all though.
(I don't believe I have *ever* gone to Youtube for current affairs info off my own initiative. I almost never click on Youtube links posted on forums, whatever the topic - a poster has to give me a lot of info to persuade me that it will be worthwhile, such is the enormous noise-to-signal ration on that site.)
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kylecycler
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by kylecycler »

UpWrong wrote: 10 Mar 2022, 7:30am
reohn2 wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:30pm
mattheus wrote: 9 Mar 2022, 3:21pm It takes all sorts ... but do you really get your news from YouTube?
No not all of it though it has it's uses,that came up on the feed whilst I was watching something else,so I thought I'd pass it as you do.

Where do get your news from?
Here? :lol:
"Putin's winning the information war at home? Where did you hear that?"

"Cycling UK Forum."

"Cycling... UK... Forum..."

"So?" :lol:
thirdcrank
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Re: Is Putin Mad?

Post by thirdcrank »

That's one of the things I've learned over my years on this forum and try to stick to: unless it's abundantly clear from the context, it's really helpful to include an explanation with any link and often better to make your own observation and support it with the link. I, for one, don't need a media cuttings service. It's a balance, but if I see a post consisting of only a link, I tend to wait for others to comment before I open it and if they don't I just ignore it
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