Hubcapped

i have no idea what you are trying to say. It would be nice if you occasionally spoke in a normal fashion


on another note, im shocked the DOJ is saying the right wing influencers were paid by russia…..shocked I tell you. Maybe the russbot has been gettin a little chedda on the side

METO Guido

I see. We’re (yankee chumps) no angels. Never were. This fire is too big to ignore. If you don’t know what that means, ur either extremely naive or highly partisan.

Russian rule is forever despotic, self-serving and remorseless. Stacked with fatalists unable to drink themselves into a better relationship with world outside. Paranoid, you bet. This stops in Ukraine. That bet, go full in. Play the game, never believe in it.

Excargodog

BY AAMER MADHANI AND ZEKE MILLER
Updated 12:34 PM PDT, September 7, 2024
ShareWASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.

They did not offer any details about how many weapons have been delivered or when the transfers may have occurred, but they confirmed the U.S. intelligence finding. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been publicly disclosed.

The White House declined to confirm the weapons transfer but reiterated its concern that Iran is deepening its support of Russia. The White House has been warning Iran for months not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia.

“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement. “This partnership threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the Middle East and around the world.”

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ir...41fa5bf3f57b24

MaxQ

Was hoping someone would bring this up:
the latest bit of Russia using useful idiots or assets as a distribution manifold for their disinformation.

Maybe others will add to the info.

MaxQ

The observed comparison was in regards to what would probably be called 'national character', if there is such a thing.
The comment was not meant to apply to how foreign policy is conducted. Be it in war or peace.

I agree that America acted selflessly in WW2 (at least in Western Europe) and has reaped good will from those actions for at least two generations.
I would dispute, however, that America/Great Britain "ran the table". At best, they got about half the table.
The other half of the table was left to the tender mercies of Stalin.
This outcome is the direct source of the paranoia and 'buffer zone' bull**** that was used to justify acquiescence to Stalin during Tehran, Moscow, and Yalta.
A myth that now is viewed as objective fact.

METO Guido

Funny you should mention that. Acquiescence? Gmafb. Casualties in Korea south of a still active DMZ, 36 thousand KIA. SE Asia, 60k or so. Crippled for life, 100s of thousands. 13 lost in Kabul during the evacuation. The youngest just 20, oldest 31. Never forget them or who you’re talking to. We DONE our fair share.

Lowslung

Yeah, surprise, surprise. Russian information ops laid bare in front of us. Guarantee this is just the tip of the iceberg & China, Hamas, Iran, etc have also been playing this game for a while now. While it does appear the right wing has been an especially willing and conspicuous actor in this play, the left is not immune to similar strategies as evidenced by legions of western young people who seem all too willing to believe that organizations like Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are wholly innocent players in the Arab/Israel conflict. I've said it before....we as a country, indeed as Western society as a whole, need to get savvier in the way we consume media. Global connectivity and advances in technology like AI & deepfake imagery are going to make this an ever bigger issue going forward. We need to be developing coping strategies yesterday.

MaxQ

I read a list (compiled by some organization I had never heard of) of the top 10 existential/mortal threats to current civilization. (they are always 10!)
It had the usual suspects, but it also had one that caught my attention. >>>Mass Delusion.

Some time ago I watched a recording of a talk given by Prof. Timothy Snyder on the Holocaust. In the following question/answer session there was an interesting exchange. It involved a question regarding the internet/social media and privatized partisan media all wrapped into one. Part of Snyder's response was an "aha moment" for me. He spoke of how in the past changes in communication/information sharing had created, for better or worse, upheavals and revolutions. It took time and great change before coping machanisms were found. He specifically mentioned the printing press, which was directly related to spread of the Reformation where 30% of German speaking people prematurely died in its wars. He also mentioned how Hitler capitalized on the new widespread availability of radio. The German govt and opposing parties were still stuck in pamphleteering and newspaper communications while Hitler summoned his followers to rallies where they could publicly display their power. (be there...it'll be wild!)

i don't remember what he had to say about the more traditional medias, but I thought his comments on the internet and social media were spot on.
Society currently doesn't know how to respond to this new technology and it's uses, so it will probably get worse before it gets better.

I am unsure of how to protect ourselves from it. I am big believer in foundational knowledge providing some immunity to idiocy. But that only goes so far. We can really only be knowledgeable on a few subjects. My suspicion is that a little knowledge can make us vulnerable to sophisticated manipulation....we know just enough to follow the reasoning, but not enough to truly understand the falsifications and dangers. And as you say, AI adds another level. Can we still say seeing is believing?

I agree whole heartedly that "we need to be developing coping strategies yesterday". I just don't know how to do it without 'destroying the village in order to save it'.

MaxQ

I don't mean by acquiescence that the allies should have gone to war with Stalin. Just that they shouldn't have rolled over to everything he demanded.
They also could have been honest. "we gave Stalin whatever he wanted because we needed him to not make a seperate peace with Hitler, and we wanted him to declare war on Japan"
Instead we had to make up stories that haunt us to this day.

Polish General Anders wrote a memoir which when translated to English was given the title "An Army in Exile".
It's real title, in the Polish original, is "Without the Final Chapter" (Bez Ostatniego Rozdziału")

there is never an ending to any action. You occasionally reference the Dali Lama and Tibetan Buddism, so you understand this great Truth.

METO Guido

Merely enchanted by Hesse's Siddhartha as a schoolboy reader. After finishing Somerset Maugham's Razor's Edge, understood some of the philosophical context better. Deep fakes are nothing new. Obviously the chore of creating them has gotten much easier. Still doesn’t explain how we ended up in the leadership no man's land of the present. When Moses returned glowing like a bronze lava lamp from the burning bush, probably had a different future in mind.