Just listening to some good ol’ Creedence and it’s wild anti-war songs at those times of contradictions were ever allowed to get that big. Even wilder is capitalism’s ability to rob things like protest art of all their meaning via commodification and even twist their original meaning into their exact antithesis. Fortunate Son is a literal war song now lol
Still, says something about even liberal democracy and society that we haven’t even gotten that over the past 2 decades
It is, but I think it’s highly unlikely to find people keen for war in any conflict past a certain early euphoria. As propagandized as the Ukrainian people have been these past months and years, I still doubt your average Ukrainian is keen to die a miserable, horrible death in some trench somewhere in Donbass if they can avoid it - no more than the average Russian is.
Them being pulled of the streets could be an indicator of waning morale, but imo it’s plausible that it’s mostly for logistical reasons. It’s just easier to grab someone from the gym, than for some central authority to reach them via their postal address.
RWA had some interesting perspective on this recently that goes a bit against the narrative of “Ukraine is pulling people off the streets, because there’s nobody left”. Essentially what they said was that Ukraine is such a poorly centralized and governed state with a weak bureaucracy nobody knows how many people live in the country and where, the war and refugee situation only exaggerated this. Estimates of Ukrainian population before the war ranged between 30 and 40 mio, because afaik they haven’t been able to administer a census this century.
So the problem according to that isn’t so much that there’s nobody left physically, but that they’re struggling heavily to reach the people that are or should be there, if they even know these people exist. Hence the pulling people off the streets - they just can’t reach them any other way.
in this case, the most critical possible) and that one would extend the grace that suc
But that’s not happening in this case, is it? It’s just unironically and uncritically spreading Russian nationalist propaganda. Even in the most generous reading of this, how exactly is it a communists job ever in any way to post shit like this?
without investigating
What’s there to investigate? Self styled communists and edgelords licking RAF boots, because that’s somehow critical support?
And that’s ignoring all the other reactionary shit on that nazbol pipeline
What you posted is based though
It’s terminally online cringe garbage. How any self respecting communist can repost stuff like this or take it seriously in any way at all is beyond me.
There’s a clear difference between analyzing the reasons for this war, the benefits a Russian victory might have and the terror a Russian defeat would bring and whatever abomination this bs is and the reddit brain needed to celebrate this or “z post”.
Do you have some of them at hand per chance? I was pretty busy this week and this one is the first I’ve read so far.
Certainly seems that way though. With the mega panicky giant aid packages, every red line crossed within days and the developments on the ground it seems like the UAF might not have that much more left. I still don’t believe in some spectacular Russian offensive to smash it all, but they’re obviously preparing and shaping the line on every important front and are creating opportunities of multiple encirlcements. Marinka, Ugledar, Seversk, Bakhmut and even Avdeevka and Niu York all look precarious.
Would be the turnaround of the century though after 2022, if they really start preparing the public for a collapse like this.
Surprising article tbh
But here’s the truly bitter truth: In broad brush strokes at least, the most-likely post-war settlement is pretty much the same as the settlement that was on offer before the bloodletting began in earnest on Feb. 24. While Putin was the one who pulled the trigger that fateful day, and thus bears full moral responsibility for all that has happened since, there are many others who could have made different choices in the run-up to the war. Different choices could have resulted in a pre-war settlement that would have been almost indistinguishable from the most likely post-war settlement, minus only the untold death and destruction visited on Ukraine these past weeks and months. In that sense, and only in that limited sense, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Not that wrong
Sure, but here the superstructure is actively destroying its base. Unless we count eg the supposed German superstructural elements in government more as shaped by and maintaining the US base, not their domestic bourgeoisie. Given that eg Baerbock is a German Marshall Fund and Young Global Leaders creature, that wouldn’t be too far off the mark I guess.
Funny in a cynical way, I just don’t get why European capitalists and arms manufacturers go along with this. They’re both getting fucked by high production costs and actively pushed out of the market, because all the Europeans are giving away their European arms and restocking with US supplys. Makes no sense to Rheinmetall and the rest as far as I can see
Idk I find that argument a bit strange. Is Ukraine better off without tanks than with them? Not having any tanks on the front would ease Russian logistics in a massive way too, but nobody would say tanks are a detriment to Russia because of this.
Sure, Ukraine’s AF are a messy ass hodgepodge and a logistical nightmare. But a logistical nightmare with armor is still better than one without armor I’d say. These weapons will just be less effective because of the logistics not ineffective. They’ll still kill Russians and prolong the war and that’s their purpose after all.
'Cus they’re hella cute and funny based comrades obviously.
But honestly I think it’s mostly just because they’re so damn common and a lot harder to get than other pets. Like I’ve grown up with cats and I understand their mannerisms fairly well, but then sometimes they just leave you like “??? what the hell is going on in that little brain” which makes people interpret and anthropomorphise their behaviour in funny ways.
Also imo there’s plenty of other cute animals like dogs, cows, otters, even snakes, etc on r/awww and others" just most people don’t have a snake or find them that cute/appealing.
When I was learning how to program, I did so as a means to an end, not for the sake of learning. I’ve found that learning for the sake of learning never works, I have to learn in order to do something specific that I am interested in.
Had the same experience. Back in highschool I wanted to make a website, so I needed HTML. Then that website expanded, so I eventually got into PHP, dabbled a bit in SQL and JS too. It was all self taught and probably horrible style- and security-wise, but it was effective as heck.
I’ve seen had uni classes, done tutorials and whatever in Python, C, C++ and some more, but never got any further than the tasks/exercises from those classes, because I never had a real need for any programs myself. Thing is, I kinda need to learn this stuff for my career. Any tips how to get out of this when you don’t have any concrete problems or projects to use as a driver for learning?
For example, if you chose to permanently immigrate here you’d have to take an “integration course,” which condescendingly teaches you western values and the supposed principles of liberal democracy.
It’s so funny seeing libs screeching about muh detention centers and reeducation/brainwashing, but then hold up Germany as a beacon of freedom, democracy and tolerance. People have to take “integration-courses” here, where they’re taught about le western values and how not to be a raping savage. Learning the language is mandatory too (cultural genocide much). Not saying language courses, familiarity with local law and customs isn’t useful or even necessary. Just if this happened in China or other ‘badcountry’ it would be the grossest human rights violation to them.
The old, ill and compromised, those most in need of help from society were literally killed of by the hundreds of thousands over the last 2 years. This winter is just going to be round 3. Everyone that can’t produce profits for capital is superfluous at best. The rest has to struggle to make the bare minimum and once they’ve been squeezed dry, capitalism will spit them out to be sacrificed on the altar of neoliberalism too.
Jesus Christ that top comment alone. This whole Ukraine business has changed people. Before I could watch mainstream news and read threads like that and some of it would irritate me, most of it I’d disagree with, but it was still tolerable. It was chauvinistic, often racist and ignorant, but often relatively bening. Since 24th Feb it’s pure, unhinged racism, imperialism and stuff like this is bordering on ethno-nationalism.
Mainstream left and right seem to agree now that our free, social and prosperous European way of life is to be cherished.
Literal third way fascist rhetoric. Mainstream libs are getting scary man
Great point and definitely needs to be pointed out much more. People are still so confused how the US couldn’t ‘win’ in Afghanistan in 20 years, despite the trillions spent. It isn’t despite the trillions, it fought because of those trillions spent. In that sense it did ‘win’. Additionally Keeping the domestic population shocked and distracted in a permanent state of war makes neoliberal reforms there easier too.
But what does it mean to ‘win’ a modern war?
Weirdly imo in Ukraine US’ goals are much more clear than in previous wars and also clearer than Russia’s. For the US I can make out a win condition, for Russia I really can’t.
You’re 100% correct. The military isn’t free from neoliberal attacks and privatization efforts any more than other government institutions. Rumsfeld in a speech on 10th September 2001 explicitly announced this push to privatize it, to attack its “bureaucracy with its 5 year central plans”, etc. This new doctrine directly led to the most famous of the privateers profiting from this - Halliburton and Blackwater. Combined with a private MIC this creates the same bloat we see everywhere today.
Despite this the military still remains one of the core functions of the modern US state that isn’t quite privatized (as opposed to eg healthcare), meaning whoever supplies that military necessarily controls the largest remaining function of the state. Thus the MIC has an inbuilt control over the state as it ensures one of its core functions. And the state has a vested interest in keeping that MIC going.
The “defence industry” having this control and contractors with their mono-/oligopol position do what they always do - rack up prizes. Combined with high production costs in Western countries you get absurd costs.
Examples are the mentioned F35 project, but even HIMARS, the M777, US drones. Compare the prices of these to those of comparable capabilities produced elsewhere. Iranian drones or even Bayraktars cost a fraction. Russian artillery also likely costs a fraction of the extremely overteched US stuff. Germany eg has similar problems. Its defence budget is one of the largest in the world, it has one of the largest arms industries and yet the Bundeswehr is barely able to function at all. Not exaggerating either. They have almost no functional tanks, helicopters or aircraft. The government has had multiple debacles procuring arms contracts. From the G36, its successor, transport planes, the Eurohawk, modernization of the navy’s officer training ship, etc. All of them financial disasters.
Same with the current conflict. That’s why all of NATO combined can’t even supply a proxy properly for a year, they’re just too depleted.
That said, for the US specifically it doesn’t mean it’s a papertiger. Its budget is so high because it is used that much. As @Drstrange2love said, sending a soldier abroad for even a day is incredibly expensive and the US has hundreds of bases, constantly deployed aircraft carriers groups, etc. Just compare the size of the US airforce and its navy, especially its carrier fleet, to that of any country in the world. The difference is staggering and that is real stuff. I still doubt it could sustain a prolonged conventional war for long.
Feels like utilities almost tripled over the past 1.5 years. 20% for food also seems way too low. I track my shopping cost fairly well and on average I’m paying like 50% more than before the war.
It’s effectively a paycut of at least 5% lol. But I guess succdems being succdems.
This is based as though. At least verdi is becoming much more combative compared to most unions docile stance last year. And even 10% is effectively just to balance out inflation, not a real raise.