THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
Break Out Area
Maybe I can leave my high paying finance job at 59 and go work part time shelving books at the library for a few years for fun!
Theresa wrote: "Maybe I can leave my high paying finance job at 59 and go work part time shelving books at the library for a few years for fun!"Sounds like a good plan :)
Retired 3 years here. Has done wonders for my reading !
I'm jealous and look forward to that wonderment!
Mmm... having just gotten past the first of this years deadlines, it's safe to say that there's surely extra time in Purgatory for smug pensioners... only 17 years to go. I have a share in Oliver's XBox X (I had some idle Christmas money) as I enjoy a couple of the Assassins Creed titles, Unity (the French Revolution one) and Syndicate (the Victorian one) and I'm coveting Valhalla. Although of late I've been hitting a couple of PC titles, Project Zomboid, a zombie apocalypse sandbox ('too much walking, not enough dead') and a low fantasy medieval mercenary strategy, Battle Brothers.
Jonny wrote: "Mmm... having just gotten past the first of this years deadlines, it's safe to say that there's surely extra time in Purgatory for smug pensioners... only 17 years to go. I have a share in Oliver..."
Ahhh Jonny I did my time in purgatory, 40 years with Local Government, and probably now finished with thieves, charlatans, whore-mongers and bad managers. Now is the time to follow my own agenda :)
Hero of the day: Engineer Vitaly Volodymyrovych Skakun gave his life late last night/early this morning dropping the Henichevsky Bridge (over the Dnieper at Kherson) into the river as the Russian columns approached. He blew the bridge right in their faces, and had no way to both do his duty and save his own life. An incredibly brave young man; R.I.P.Another battle of Kherson, in 2022...
And here's a message for Putin and his henchmen: Ёб твою мать, сукин сын!!!
Please feel free to copy & paste anywhere you feel it might be useful.
I guess this is the place where I can express my feelings re Ukraine. I am so distressed. Putin will lose in the end. The world doesn’t want to deal with another Hitler. Viva Ukraine!!!
I'm so scared that our lives will be over soon. Can't some courageous group of soldiers arrest this man and bring him to Den Haag, before he can do any real harm to ALL of us, not just the Ukraine?
The oldest of the leather ammunition-pouches I own, which I have had since I was a child, has a mark stamped in the leather which reads "Den Haag - 1938"; I've always wondered what stories it could tell if it had the power of speech. I've never used it for ammunition, but rather for 35mm film canisters- some years ago I attached it to my camera strap, which works quite well.As far as worry is concerned, obviously we all have reason to be a bit worried. On the other hand, those of us who are at least of a certain age lived with the same worry for years and even decades between 1947 and 1991. I don't know about anyone else, and it is quite possible that those of you who are older had more common sense, but as young people myself and many of my contemporaries simply took it for granted that we were highly unlikely to make it past the age of 30 specifically because of the possibility of nuclear warfare. I'll never forget the time when President Reagan made his tasteless and foolish joke about "the bombing starts in five minutes", and watching the blood drain from the faces of every adult in the room. I know those of you who are older have your own similar memories of those times. One way of looking at that now is that we all got a reprieve from our collective death-sentence when the "Cold War" ended. This current situation is an extremely unpleasant and unwelcome shock to all of us, I am sure, but at least if we try we can live with the freshly resurrected horror using the same coping skills we did before. Imagine how awfully terrifying this must be to younger people who may never have had any reason to think of nuclear warfare as an imminent possibility before the last few days...
It's frightening to see what is happening over in Ukraine. Just the other day I was mentally comparing the careers of Adolf Hitler and Putin and its amazing how similar they are in many respects.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "It's frightening to see what is happening over in Ukraine. Just the other day I was mentally comparing the careers of Adolf Hitler and Putin and its amazing how similar they are in many respects."Some people like one senator from Massachusetts compared Donald Trump with Hitler.
A you-tube interview last week of former chess champion Kasparov on Putin is worth watching..
Donald Trump has far more in common with Hitler than does Putin. Obnoxious racist rabble-rousing politicians are dangerous enough; Putin is a former professional officer of the secret police. That doesn't mean that we should all be terrified of him- as President Roosevelt said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Perhaps the biggest miscalculation Putin made here is that after thirty years of freedom the Ukrainian people no longer have the habit of living their lives in the shadow of inescapable secret police terror.Fear is the weapon of first resort to all bullies, gangsters, chekisty, pigs and dictators. The whole point of threatening nuclear retaliation is to throw the world off-balance so that the Russian military has time to conquer Ukraine without outside interference. I am also very much afraid that threatening nuclear war may be a pretext to make any Russian use of chemical/biological warfare seem less extreme. God forbid. I really hope I am wrong about that last bit, but reports a few hours ago seem to indicate they are already using thermobaric munitions of some type against populated areas, which, unless I am very much mistaken, is itself prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
However, I just read that the Ukrainian Air Force is still flying missions, both manned & unmanned, and taking a toll of the advancing Russian columns, which is great news!!!
I'll second Arcticvet's recommendation of the Kasparov interview also...
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "It's frightening to see what is happening over in Ukraine. Just the other day I was mentally comparing the careers of Adolf Hitler and Putin and its amazing how similar they are in many respects."To be honest, I think Putin would rather be compared to Stalin, I can't believe he was talking about Denazifining the Ukrainian Capital. What year does he think this is?
I suppose I was comparing (not in any great depth - just superficially) how Hitler & Putin came to prominence after both their countries had been humiliated by defeat (WW1 and the Cold War), how both entered politics and then subverted the process to gain total power, how both silenced any dissenting voices in public and the media, how both then used the media as propaganda tools, how both eliminated any threats by murder or prison, how both used force and bluster to seize areas considered part of Greater Germany or Mother Russia and how both final and fatally miscalculated the Wests resolve (finally) to stand-up to them. What I fear most is Putin trying to take Russia down in a blaze of glory like Hitler tried to do in 1945.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I suppose I was comparing (not in any great depth - just superficially) how Hitler & Putin came to prominence after both their countries had been humiliated by defeat (WW1 and the Cold War), how bo..."I fear Putin brazens it out. Ukraine is subdued and over time Europe finds an accommodation with him and a resurgent Russia. I am skeptical of the willingness of some European states to keep the pressure on. When the heat of the present subsides, deals could be made. Money is at stake, on the one hand, and some may submit to threats. Ukraine loses. Putin wins.
I think it likely Russia will predominate in Ukraine. It is also likely that Nato will be rejuvenated. Germany has woken up. Europeans (even the UK) see that banding together is the way forward. Perhaps Sweden and Finland will take the plunge and join Nato. Perhaps the UK will strengthen its defences, some nuclear some conventional. A new BAOR ? a shared resolve to confront.Well I can hope can't I ?
That's the biggest issue MR9 - money! Many are more worried about their economies and others worried about their profits and shares and deals to be done.Simon I also hope that Sweden and Finland now decide to join NATO. At least it seems most of the world is finally united against Putin.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I suppose I was comparing (not in any great depth - just superficially) how Hitler & Putin came to prominence after both their countries had been humiliated by defeat (WW1 and the Cold War), how bo..."Not a bad comparison. My view comes from when he first started his rise to dictatorship or President for Life, he made some big noise about returning Russia to her former glory. It was mostly shrugged off at the time, but it seems that like many he hasn't forgotten his brag.
Manray9 wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I suppose I was comparing (not in any great depth - just superficially) how Hitler & Putin came to prominence after both their countries had been humiliated by defeat (WW1 and..."It is still surprising that Nations with the most divergent philosophies about violence and siding against Russia at least for now. But the Taliban and the Swiss have sent messages to Russia saying they should try peaceful discourse. Of course, the Swiss backed it up by closing Russian accounts, the least neutral thing they have done since fighting Napoleon.
Dj wrote: "Manray9 wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I suppose I was comparing (not in any great depth - just superficially) how Hitler & Putin came to prominence after both their countries had been humiliated by..."Squeezing the wealth of Putin and his cronies may be among the most effective of actions.
You are absolutely right, Rick, and I did not meant to dispute your point (I apologise for giving that impression); rather, I was responding to both Christine's comment and yours together, and also trying to make the point that both Hitler & Trump are relatively guileless in comparison to Putin. Manray9, I fear you may be correct on that score, but I certainly hope not, for all our sakes...
I expect our British brothers & sisters will already be aware of this, but for anyone who didn't already know there has been some really excellent analysis on the RUSI website.
Also, I don't know if any of you have tried to comment on YouTube recently, but it looks like either they are backing Putin (unlikely) or someone has successfully hacked their systems (much more likely). I was debating about the history relevant to the conflict with some guy over several days (and winning, of course); when he could not dispute the facts of history, he started whining about how it was irresponsible or even unconscionable for the Ukrainian government to hand out weapons to civilians while a modern army is bearing down on them. The YT algorithm keeps removing my reply and showing me an error message when I try to re-post...
Liam wrote: "You are absolutely right, Rick, and I did not meant to dispute your point (I apologise for giving that impression); rather, I was responding to both Christine's comment and yours together, and also..."No issues with me at all Liam :)
Thanx, Rick, I'm glad that is the case! À propos my mention of RUSI above- the author of one of the articles I read on their website earlier, Justin Bronk, was interviewed on the state of Russian air-power last year; here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf1uQ...
Speaking of RUSI I saw Jonathan Eyal speak recently, really good he was.
I saw an interesting virtual panel on the Russo-Ukraine War. I want to share a couple of books that cover some backstory that I put on my reading list. The scholars were on this program. They are just one of many books out there, but I thought I would share.
by M.E. Sarotte
by Serhii Plokhy
In the lead up to the war, I accidentally came across the GR listing for Michael Moser's New Contributions to the History of the Ukrainian Language. What caught my eye was the citation, in the book description, giving 1863 as the year for a formal ban of the language. (Reminded me of Tyrol.)Also, I just read that, on Monday, Russian bombing damaged the Holocaust Memorial.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-...
Excellent article posted on 'The Atlantic' website late this morning, quoting Edward N. Luttwak: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...Here is the same article on MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...
Liam wrote: "Excellent article posted on 'The Atlantic' website late this morning, quoting Edward N. Luttwak: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc......"I'll have to quibble on the statement by Luttwak in the article: "The Finno-Soviet Winter War of 1939 ended with Soviet withdrawal. . ."
The Finns sued for peace. The Russians withdrew AFTER the Treaty of Moscow, which required Finnish cession of the Karelian isthmus and the city of Viipuri, part of Karelia north of Lake Ladoga, some islands in the Gulf of Finland, Salla, and Rybachi. The victory was in Finland surviving.
Great posts everyone, thanks for sharing those links as well, all very interesting.
Liz V. wrote: "Tomorrow is World Book Day https://www.glasgowworld.com/read-thi..."
To me every day is book day.
Manray9 wrote: "Liz V. wrote: "Tomorrow is World Book Day https://www.glasgowworld.com/read-thi..."
To me every day is book day."
I'm with MR9 :)
Some people may find this article of interest:THE WARGAME BEFORE THE WAR: RUSSIA ATTACKS UKRAINE
James Lacey, Tim Barrick and Nathan Barrick:
https://warontherocks.com/2022/03/the...
Another interesting article in regards to Russian airpower and Ukraine:https://rusi.org/explore-our-research...
Manray9 wrote: "Liz V. wrote: "Tomorrow is World Book Day https://www.glasgowworld.com/read-thi..."
To me every day is book day."
Amen brothers. Although it did at least lighten the mood in the house with the infamous rant "I don't give a stuff if you're Henry VIII, shut your bracket, get that turned off and pack your bloody school bag."
I've been diplomatically keeping my own bracket closed with reference to events at the other end of Europe, as I'm finding it hard to dig down far enough to voice an opinion, but the posts this far are fairly interesting. I do wonder how far sanctions will go against former Republics though?
Liz V. wrote: "Ukrainian nuclear plant https://www.reuters.com/markets/europ..."
Yes, just saw that on the news!
Crazy Russians!!!
Liz V. wrote: "Ukrainian nuclear plant https://www.reuters.com/markets/europ..."
It's not as if it won't poison them too.
You would have to think they knew the facility was there and what is was!
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "You would have to think they knew the facility was there and what is was!"IAEA has been begging Russia for days to not fight near plant.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/press...
Makes me wonder whether Russia recognizes any limitations Non-combatant ships damaged/sunk
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe...
Liz V. wrote: "Makes me wonder whether Russia recognizes any limitations Non-combatant ships damaged/sunk
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe..."
I would say few. And their command and control is poor, at best.
THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP
Books mentioned in this topic
The Shepherd (other topics)The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View (other topics)
The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View (other topics)
New Contributions to the History of the Ukrainian Language (other topics)
Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Frederick Forsyth (other topics)Edward N. Luttwak (other topics)
Edward N. Luttwak (other topics)
Michael Moser (other topics)
Mary Elise Sarotte (other topics)
More...
That gives you a few more years to squirrel away some money and also put aside some books for retirement :)