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I think we can agree that the PRC has absolutely no legitimate business putting military bases in the Med.
No one said 'military bases', though if you throw Greece out of the EU or worse NATO, that could make a Chinese offer wayyy more interesting... But the Med doesn't belong to anyone, beyond territorial waters, anyone has the freedom of navigation.

That's literally why the USN, French Navy,... are crossing the strait of Taiwan too.

Bottom line: if the Chinese want to send warships in the middle of the Med, it's their right. Legitimate business or not (and regardless of political posturing).

But more to the point (Greece). The idea of the EU isn't to throw out a State when things get complicated. The inherent difficulty of the EU, and actually its greatest achievement, is the fact that, despite its various member states' interest and divergence of opinion, we still can come up with some sort of agreement on a variety of matters. Some harder than others, but we can reach agreements. Even with idiots like Orban or despite fraudulent behaviours.

That's one of the underlying principles of the EU. We don't push back at the first sight of troubles. We work out a solution that can generate consensus and move forward.
 
No one said 'military bases', though if you throw Greece out of the EU or worse NATO, that could make a Chinese offer wayyy more interesting... But the Med doesn't belong to anyone, beyond territorial waters, anyone has the freedom of navigation.

That's literally why the USN, French Navy,... are crossing the strait of Taiwan too.

Bottom line: if the Chinese want to send warships in the middle of the Med, it's their right. Legitimate business or not (and regardless of political posturing).

But if they began to do that on a regular basis, people would begin to ask why.
Especially given the Chinese habit of building artificial islands and then claiming territorial waters around them...


But more to the point (Greece). The idea of the EU isn't to throw out a State when things get complicated. The inherent difficulty of the EU, and actually its greatest achievement, is the fact that, despite its various member states' interest and divergence of opinion, we still can come up with some sort of agreement on a variety of matters. Some harder than others, but we can reach agreements. Even with idiots like Orban or despite fraudulent behaviours.

That's one of the underlying principles of the EU. We don't push back at the first sight of troubles. We work out a solution that can generate consensus and move forward.

That implies a good deal more flexibility from Brussels than I'd been lead to understand was the case. Maybe it's an outbreak of pragmatism.
 
But if they began to do that on a regular basis, people would begin to ask why.
We (and by 'we', I mean the West) do that on a daily basis too.

Especially given the Chinese habit of building artificial islands and then claiming territorial waters around them...
That's a different matter. It's one thing to do a FONOP in the Med, it's another — entirely — to create an artificial island. That would raise some questions and a more serious diplomatic posture from... Well pretty much everyone with a coastline.

The Chinese/the US/anyone really would be met with a stronger opposition in the Med than what happened in Asia if they even think about that.

That implies a good deal more flexibility from Brussels than I'd been lead to understand was the case. Maybe it's an outbreak of pragmatism.
The EU is a very pragmatical entity. As pragmatic as the Council wants it to be.

Despite the usual political mishaps, strong worded letters, and other political minefields, the EU has a very good and experienced backend of public servants. They can negotiate deals and come up with solutions when every political commentators would've thought the EU to be lagging behind "as usual". That's why most commentators — especially those outside EU borders — are often wrong in their assessments. They tend to ignore what happens behind the curtain, the tremendous work of the EU Commission, parliament public servants... and other sherpas.
 
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Russians are freezing in their homes due to maintenance workers being mobilized.



1/ People across Russia are freezing in their homes in temperatures as low as -38°C because essential utility workers have been mobilised – even after the supposed end of mobilisation – and sent to Ukraine, hindering repair and maintenance work at home.

2/ The "We can explain" Telegram channel reports that several regions and cities in Russia, including Astrakhan, Krasnodar and Rostov, are suffering problems with their communal heating systems because the engineers responsible for maintaining them have been mobilised.

3/ A source in Astrakhan's municipal services says: "We have appealed to the military registration and enlistment offices and officials, explaining that the heating season is coming soon and we need people, but we never received a clear answer."

4/ Despite being engineers, most of the mobilised workers were used as infantry. They were "told to hold a difficult section of the front, although there were no professional soldiers among our men, some had just finished their military studies, others were already in their 40s."

5/ Some of the men, who were fighting near the village of Mirolyubivka, were forgotten about by their commanders during the retreat from Kherson. They were left behind, resulting in them being captured by the Ukrainians.

6/ Two of the municipal workers were sent to serve with engineering forces near Kherson, then subsequently sent for training in Belarus before they are due to return to Crimea to build defences there.

7/ The source notes that the men were given draft notices even after the partial mobilisation was claimed to have ended. Essential workers are supposed to be exempt from mobilisation, but military officials have widely ignored such exemptions.

8/ Problems with heating have been reported across Russia, exacerbated by a lack of engineering personnel. Residents of Novosibirsk were left without heating in mid-November in temperatures of -30°C due to a damaged pipeline.

9/ 270 apartment blocks housing 70,000 people in Abakan faced a similar problem around the same time. At Artemovsky, a heating breakdown lasted for several days in temperatures of -38°C. /end
It's amazing in a warped sort of way how the Russians are doing so much more damage to themselves than their enemies ever could have.
 
Russians are freezing in their homes due to maintenance workers being mobilized.




It's amazing in a warped sort of way how the Russians are doing so much more damage to themselves than their enemies ever could have.


Maybe the booze is speaking through me, but, i think it´s more then justifying the the russian populatioon should also get taste of what the Ukrainians are currently enduring.
So yes, sucks to be you.
I couldn´t care less. Maybe it´s a good thing that they should suffer at least a little bit.
Heck, maybe, just maybe, they could convice Putler to stop this shitshow.

Edit:
Oh the irony....
please let me play one the world tiniest violin.....
 
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Maybe the booze is speaking through me, but, i think it´s more then justifying the the russian populatioon should also get taste of what the Ukrainians are currently enduring.
So yes, sucks to be you.
I couldn´t care less. Maybe it´s a good thing that they should suffer at least a little bit.
Heck, maybe, just maybe, they could convice Putler to stop this shitshow.

Edit:
Oh the irony....
please let me play one the world tiniest violin.....

This idea that people who were born in non-Western countries with non-democratic forms of government deserve to be punished for it seems to pop up annoyingly often. It's a toxic form of collectivist thinking.
Do you really think the people who are being left in the cold there have any say whatsoever about the actions of their government?
Do you really think that anyone who does is being left in the cold?
 
This idea that people who were born in non-Western countries with non-democratic forms of government deserve to be punished for it seems to pop up annoyingly often. It's a toxic form of collectivist thinking.
Do you really think the people who are being left in the cold there have any say whatsoever about the actions of their government?
Do you really think that anyone who does is being left in the cold?
Where did Aetherius talk about democracy? Hint: nowhere. The issue isn't that their country is undemocratic but that it goes on a murder, rape and torture rampage against its neighbour and collects the associated karma.
 
Ok, first of all, i want to make clear that i´m familiar with both sides. My family comes from a non-western country / eastern european nation while i was born in western country.
Second, nobody deserves to stay in the cold, but this stunt aka war, they pulled through, deserves a karmic reward.
This stupidity, putting important People who are in charge of the infrastructure, at the Front of a Dumb and Stupid War because of the Ego of one person, deserves a karmic reaction.

Where did Aetherius talk about democracy? Hint: nowhere. The issue isn't that their country is undemocratic but that it goes on a murder, rape and torture rampage against its neighbour and collects the associated karma.

Amen to that.
 
I'm actually with @Scotty on this one.
Schadenfreude is something that is one of the ugliest human feelings.

I have to admit I felt it as well.

I lived in Germany when the last refugee crisis happened. (wow does that problem sounds quint right about now) German TV was trying to make people more compassionate by airing stories of the Germans that were displaced after the war.
Stories of people thrown out of their family homes, teenage boys working in the fields as war reparations, etc...

But on me personally, that was a balm on my soul. Growing up with stories of what the Germans did to my people hearing about them being a little inconvenienced after was heartwarming.
I am not proud of it. But it did happen.


As for the story of needed maintenance people are put in a uniform and moved to parts unknown.
That is the most Russian thing I heard in a while. Mismanagement that is criminal in its negligence is so common that whenever it doesn't happen it is actually note-worthy.
It is like hearing stories from the 1970s and 1980s all over again.
 
Funny that Russian think Europe is the one who freeze this winter.
Eyup. It's a bit cold, but we endure without too much problems. Many places have kept the heating off both for monetary savings and as part of helping the national power consumption remain manageable - I've seen this argument being explicitely indicated in private emails between apartment owners in a building when it came to decide what to do for the central heating. EDIT: hell, I'm at the restaurant right now and I'm literally overehearing a guy saying he hasn't turned heating either to save gas.

Overall, it's pleasantly surprising to see the resilience here. It's of course nowhere near what the Ukrainians are enduring daily, but seeing the consequences of the war like inflation and energy costs hit everyone yet with little to no social and/or political turmoil is... a bit unexpected for many people in both sides of the war. There's a situation here with the legislative chamber divided in three blocks, with two of them being extremes, yet things are holding, you don't see too many large-scale protests.
 
The mild fall/winter so far helps, but as it turns out much of our energy expenditure was due to bad habbits rather than any real need.

I will not hesitate to turn the heat on if things get cold but a blanket and pair of socks are more than good enough as long as its just chilly.
 
The mild fall/winter so far helps, but as it turns out much of our energy expenditure was due to bad habbits rather than any real need.

I will not hesitate to turn the heat on if things get cold but a blanket and pair of socks are more than good enough as long as its just chilly.
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The mild fall/winter so far helps, but as it turns out much of our energy expenditure was due to bad habbits rather than any real need.

I will not hesitate to turn the heat on if things get cold but a blanket and pair of socks are more than good enough as long as its just chilly.
Hell yeah. Plus, these are good habits to get anyway to help keep the power consumption down after Russia gets wrecked.
 
Phew, the testimonies are getting out from Kherson, and it appears @Alcibiades' favourite army is pretty much embracing systemic rape and torture in the occupied territories. Not surprising they get killed en masse if they spend more time hurting civilians than training how to fight properly, but then, that's the normal behaviour of failed countries.
 
How can you De-Nazify properly a populace without liberal application of rape, theft, murder and pillage?

Those are basics Rufus!

/s
 
How can you De-Nazify properly a populace without liberal application of rape, theft, murder and pillage?

Those are basics Rufus!

/s

It happened on a large scale in the territories the Soviets occupied in WW2, or so I'm told.
 
It happened on a large scale in the territories the Soviets occupied in WW2, or so I'm told.
Good old tradition of theirs, except they don't have the US logistics to bring lube to the frontline rapists this time. Well, technically they weren't all, but the Soviet women who fought there were treated like shit right after the end of the war by their husbands and fathers who felt they needed to prove their manliness.
 
Ah, Russia, so corrupt that even pointy chunks of concrete are too much for them to make. Instead of solid concrete they are just a thin layer over some kind of hollow metal shell.



The dragon's teeth installed as part of Russia's defensive line are already falling apart before a Ukrainian tank ever got in sight.

FjThI6-WYAsj4ux


Note that even if they weren't decaying with absurd speed, they aren't even proper Dragon's Teeth; they have no foundation and are just scattered on the surface. An armored vehicle can easily haul them aside, or even just drive right through them with some risk of damage (there was a video of that a while back). WWII military engineers would have hysterics at the idea of these things as "fortifications".
 
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