I'd bet that most American users of this site viscerally opposed Bush Jr.'s savage, unjustified and illegal (if that even means anything anymore) invasion of Iraq back in 2003. Some will have marched for peace, denounced the war at every turn. A few even moved to Canada, just as thousands of conscientious objectors did back in the 60's and 70's, in opposition to the Vietnam War (perhaps helped along by a desire to live, for men of drafting age). And still the country marched to war. You get my point.
“[...] the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq – I mean Ukraine."
- George W. Bush, May 18, 2022
You can't make this shit up.
I’m about to give away my age here, but I remember seeing Bush Jr’s “Shock and Awe,” campaign on television when the Iraq war officially began. This was the first night of the war and it wasn’t at all a secret. As a matter of fact, every possible moment of the first 24 to 78 hours was aired on live TV. It was early morning but still dark in Baghdad. It was quiet (peaceful, even) and the vast majority of the city was asleep. Then, all you could see on the television screen were the words, “shock and awe,” in prominent white font at the top of the screen, and underneath the title were tiny dots of light, reminiscent of unexploded fireworks. They arched across the unlit sky in an uninterrupted stream, for what seemed like hours, eventually detonating on far-away, unknown positions. Of course, all targets were “strategic military targets,” and the narrator would repeatedly assuring terms like, “surgical precision,” and “state-of-the-art GPS” whatever, “to ensure total accuracy,” etc, etc. I was barely an adult, if even that, but still remember wondering how could we not only televise war atrocities for entertainment (and political points, naturally), but also come up with a title for this bullshit like, “shock and awe,” that was basically a live stream of our military bombing the fuck out of another country. The words “Shock and Awe,” were left on the top of the screen throughout the entire broadcast, almost as if we had to be reminded how awesome our war was... It would be like, wham, bam, thank you ma’m! This spectacle was supposed to instill in its audience a sense of pride and American patriotism (and presumably, “shock, and “awe!”), but I only remember feeling anger and shame, not only for the invasion, but also for sensationalizing the death and destruction of actual, real people.
Invading Iraq was wrong. Invading Ukraine is wrong. I know these are not even remotely the same things, but I also know that not every human on the planet is a warmongering asshole and that what I feel/felt back then is what some Russians are feeling right now. Basically, If I expect to be judged by my own words and actions - not just those of my country, than I need to extend that right to everyone else. The lack of free press and threats of long prison sentences in Russia add a whole other dimension that I can’t even imagine. This last part is why I admire the fuck out of any average Russian that is willing to speak out against what their country is doing.
*BUT.., on the flip side, if you are a Russian (or anyone else) that has access to actual news and information that isn’t total propaganda bullshit and actually believe this war is justified and/or Putin is a good leader/decent human being for whatever reason, fuck you.
Posted by Radio2600 Looking at the damage, it was more likely a magazine.
Looking at the leftovers, I think you might be right.
Check this epic Russian tank retreat failure. It takes ten tons of balls to take on a tank with just small arms, but it looks the driver of this one was freaking right the fuck out.
Looking at the leftovers, I think you might be right.
Check this epic Russian tank retreat failure. It takes ten tons of balls to take on a tank with just small arms, but it looks the driver of this one was freaking right the fuck out.
Posted by Emperor Wang Dude went "full cosmonaut". If you watch the little outbuilding above and to the right of the tank hit you can see the rag-doll land on the roof.
You weren't kidding! He went out of the top of the frame for several seconds before re-entering!
When twilight draws near, when you are pushed to the very limits of your soul, when it seems that all you have left are the dead remnants of the fabric of your life: -- BELIEVE
Posted by Emperor Wang Dude went "full cosmonaut". If you watch the little outbuilding above and to the right of the tank hit you can see the rag-doll land on the roof.
A nice piece from the Globe and Mail about how Ukraine reclaimed Kharkiv from the cunty invaders these last few days. The host loads a bit slow.
Turns out it's not so hard to outfox an army of idiots whose brains are awash in vodka and propaganda. Provided you're willing to invest the requisite blood, sweat and tears.
NSFW again. Don't click if you're not ok with watching a Russian dude taking about 30 bullets after being caught hiding in an Ukrainian family's outhouse.
Such is war. Fuck off and die, Putin. You and yours deserve this. And worse.
My neighbour (who is seriously the most wholesome dude on the entire fucking planet, and also brews some incredible beer) is on either his 4th or 5th trip to Ukraine, driving a rented van (on his dime) transporting refugees and pets out of the country and medical supplies into the country.
He's just a wonderful guy, and I wish him nothing but the best.
If anyone wants to follow his endeavors, he's on instagram at @johnthebrewerinukraine
I don't know if I've ever worried about a friend so much in my life, but I'm excited to be sharing a pint with him upon his return in November.
Posted by bandi My neighbour (who is seriously the most wholesome dude on the entire fucking planet, and also brews some incredible beer) is on either his 4th or 5th trip to Ukraine, driving a rented van (on his dime) transporting refugees and pets out of the country and medical supplies into the country.
He's just a wonderful guy, and I wish him nothing but the best.
If anyone wants to follow his endeavors, he's on instagram at @johnthebrewerinukraine
I don't know if I've ever worried about a friend so much in my life, but I'm excited to be sharing a pint with him upon his return in November.
Some people will put everything on the line to help people.
Posted by bandi My neighbour (who is seriously the most wholesome dude on the entire fucking planet, and also brews some incredible beer) is on either his 4th or 5th trip to Ukraine, driving a rented van (on his dime) transporting refugees and pets out of the country and medical supplies into the country.
He's just a wonderful guy, and I wish him nothing but the best.
If anyone wants to follow his endeavors, he's on instagram at @johnthebrewerinukraine
I don't know if I've ever worried about a friend so much in my life, but I'm excited to be sharing a pint with him upon his return in November.
As happy as I am to see hostile invaders (albeit mostly conscripts) die and russian materiel be destroyed, the more that this occurs, and perhaps the more gleeful the civilized world is towards it, the more I worry that vlad putin is just going to say "fuck it!" and go nuclear. He doesn't seem to have an out. He's 70, apparently sick, a globally despised war criminal, and his favorite analogy/operating philosophy seems to be to never mess with a cornered rat, because it's got nothing to lose. I suppose if he really loves his children, he'll surrender or kill himself, or work-out some deal where he, his wife & girlfriends can go live in china in exile. Otherwise, I think the only hope is someone in his inner circle puts him to sleep or that there's a successful coup d'etat SOON. Maybe his plane will mysteriously crash & burn while he's on his way to Bali for the G20 Summit next month...
Remember your history lessons from school -- it took a couple years of a evil madman's folly and a Japanese emperor's ambitions before those invasions & regional wars became global and known as World War-II. In my opinion. what's going-on now is very similar to the situation in Europe and Asia circa 1939-1941, though china and north korea aren't currently active. If russia and china decide to team-up (ala Germany & Japan did), we've got the Allies & Axis once again, only this time, the bad guys have nuclear weapons (let's hope that their nuclear warheads & delivery systems are just as bad as russia's conventional forces currently seem to be). Plus in addition, there's cyber-warfare that could damage us badly.
And OF COURSE the US government is going to down-play the nuclear war risk up until the moment it actually happens, because if they didn't downplay it, people would be hoarding/looting/panicking all over the world.
/-/ooligan
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.