There was a book/mindset popular among boomers in the 90's as I recall along the lines of : "The most important things in life I learned in Kindergarten". It was epitomized in a phrase often mocked, but nevertheless asked by those who don't believe, as Pournelle explicitly reminded us with his anthology series, that There Will Be War [https://arkhavencomics.com/product/twbw01/], that goes "Why can't we all get along?" That last dovetails perfectly into the end-of-history liberal global hegemon…
See the below vide from Sabaton, a cover of a song originally written and performed by Radio Tapok (who had previously covered their "Attack of the Dead Men" in Russian) Consider a nation where a performer can unapologetically and unironically write such a song, and be very popular. If you're wise, you don't pick fights with them.…
* Part 1 of this loose series : Does Anyone Remember? Or Think? Or Understand? [https://thelastredoubt.com/does-anyone-remember/] * Part 2 : More Ukraine [https://thelastredoubt.com/more-ukraine/] * Part 3 : Yes This is a War - In All But the Shooting [https://thelastredoubt.com/yes-this-is-a-war/] I've held off to see what's going on. Much of what I've been paying attention to these days comes via Black Pidgeon Speaks and his regular livecasts, often featuring at least one military co…
Ukraine series: * Part 1 of this loose series : Does Anyone Remember? Or Think? Or Understand? [https://thelastredoubt.com/does-anyone-remember/] * Part 2 (you are here): More Ukraine [https://thelastredoubt.com/more-ukraine/] * Part 3 : Yes This is a War - In All But the Shooting [https://thelastredoubt.com/yes-this-is-a-war/] Yesterday I looked at how a lot of the disbelief in Russia's actions appears to be based in an inability to believe what they've said, and this appears grou…
This is part 1. For other parts in this series: * Part 2 : More Ukraine [https://thelastredoubt.com/more-ukraine/] * Part 3 : Yes This is a War - In All But the Shooting [https://thelastredoubt.com/yes-this-is-a-war/] For the sake of laying out the filter I'm working through, I'll first lay out the following: Putin is a thug. Given the environment in Russia, how could he not be? He'd have to be effective and ruthless to gain the respect and obedience of the crowd at the top of Russian soc…