God damn these Ukrainian's are brave people.

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This was on my recommended videos to watch today

The two leaders have somewhat different modus operandi while their respective countries are at war.

My dread comes from the early 60's. I clearly remember our social studies teacher explaining to us what could happen if.... cuba, russia etc.
My parents had to pick up the pieces as my nightmares flared with images of the western horizon out my bedroom window completely engulfing the rocky mountains with flames from one end to the other and as high as could be seen as it came moving closer and closer burning everything in its path.

Fun times to be an adolescent in school. I later became a Flower Powered hippie united with fellow students for sit-ins at University, we were protesting the wars. I'm still against violence as a means to political goals. Peace! and Freedom to Conversation and Opinion! 💛🌸🌻🌻🌸� ��

I was 8 then and old enough to remember my parents' anxiety but not old enough to know what was going on apart from Russia bad, America good.

Reminds me of the "Dancing Man" in Tianmen Square, before the slaughter there.

Probably didn't end well for him then, but the images of him represent an enduring and damning indictment of the Chinese regime, decades later.

Same now--and forever--for Putin. Never trust, never accept, never give in.

Mutual Assured Destruction is still a thing. Everybody loses, forever.

And too many uncontrollable variables for any one player to attempt "limited nuclear war", even in a multi-polar world.

That is likely to give even Putin pause.

As if those food starved areas in the world didn't suffer enough already

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60623941

I'm a baby boomer and clearly remember the anxiety and fear I felt hearing the siren go off and having to go under our desks on her knees with our arms behind our neck and our head touching our knees. Being a kid in the 50's and early 60's was not as joyful as we try to portray the times. And yes, I'm having anxiety again because of the real threat that nukes will be used during this war. I have family 25 miles north of NYC. They would probably be one of the first to die if that were to happen. I would prefer to living there with them and having us all die at the same time and am seriously looking into going back in the upcoming weeks for a long visit.

We all hope so. Apparently Putin is hiding in an underground city in Siberia right now. Losing this war will be a problem for Putin as he relies on the chauvinist support. Won’t go well with his base. He could commit suicide, lumber on or choose another approach.

What I can’t fathom is why Europe increased its dependence on Russian gas, oil and coal since 2014. Germany in particular. And why everyone banned supply of weapons to Ukraine until now. Had we spent the last 8 years differently, it would have given Putin pause before invading.

I don't understand that either, I remember talking about that sometime ago.... why would you rely on an unstable corrupt country for something so critical.... its insanity! Im obviously missing something.

It even worse that North America does too when it could be self sufficient with oil and gas, especially if they didn't cancel infrastructure that is half built!!

There are a few reasons. Some of these arguments are a replay of 1980s when Germans built a pipeline from USSR and the Reagan administration argued that it would make Europe dependent on the whims of a totalitarian regime. Young Blinken wrote a book in 1987, essentially supporting the German position: https://books.google.ca/books/about/...on&redir_esc=y

Germany committed to shutting down nuclear power after Fukushima. Replaced with Russian coal and gas, also increasing GHG emissions.

Creating an alternative to Russian hydrocarbons would have required spending Euros. Germany has strict constraints on balanced budgets so infrastructure investment is always the first to suffer.

Remarkably and shamefully, former Chancellor Schroeder being paid by Putin’s regime but Merkel’s government was a big part of the problem. The new government too banned Baltic states from sending weapons to Ukraine to help prevent the invasion even after Russia amassed troops on the border.

And in Canada major projects are being blocked because of special interests, pandering and government’s unwillingness to do anything beyond shoveling the cash out.

Even today Trudeau is refusing to answer a simple question which does not bode well for the future.

• Quote:

  When asked whether Canada would be using its petroleum sector to help Europe lessen its dependence on Russian oil: “We need to move forward on decarbonizing our economies, but we need to do that in a way that supports people through that process and we’re going to continue doing that.”

https://nationalpost.com/news/politi...justin-trudeau

We never did any of that stuff.

That's not a nice way to talk about the UK

I remember taking part in a civil defence exercise in my early years. I laid over a tree stump with fake blood daubed in my ear.

I remember the odd siren test too.