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Meanwhile the russians are actually gearing up to invade Ukraine with force as we speak (write), and the worst deterrent the west seems willing to use is blocki

by tpmx 5y ago

Meanwhile the russians are actually gearing up to invade Ukraine with force as we speak (write), and the worst deterrent the west seems willing to use is blocking Russia from the SWIFT international banking system, and that's a maybe.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
helge9210 5y ago
This means a possibility for me to die in this war (fighting against Russians). Is this how inevitability of the war was felt in Europe hundred of years ago?
motohagiography 5y ago
Strange to see war starting to surface the mainstream zeigeist, as it's been happening predictably in slow motion as the consequence of obvious incentives for about 18 months, and then it goes up all at once. From everything I can tell from reading about previous ones, war is a kind of triumph of the absurd, where meaning is extinguished and all that is left is the violence until the attrition establishes some coherence again. My bets are Russia re-establishes some of its soviet era borders between the Black and the Baltic seas, including Ukraine, then possibly Latvia or Estonia. Israel is almost out of alternatives on Iran, and China will consolidate Hong Kong and Taiwan in Xi's lifetime. The only thing standing in any of their way is the alliance of Biden, Bojo, Macron, and Trudeau getting enough democratic traction for a draft and total war. So nothing, basically. Anyway, remember to act surprised.
- TheGigaChad 5y ago
  How and how much are you betting?
dang 5y ago
Please don't take HN threads on generic flamewar tangents and especially not nationalistic ones. That's not what this site is for. (Edit: and we've had to ask you about this numerous times in the past. That's not cool.) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- tpmx 5y ago
  Okay. Sorry about that. I thought it was relevant enough, but I defer to your judgement and expertise on this issue.
- anikan_vader 5y ago
  Hmm. The guidelines say to avoid unrelated controversy, but possible military conflict in Eastern Europe does seem to be of some relevance to the topic at hand. After all, the name of the article is "War Starts," and it begins by clearly hinting at the tensions between the US and China. The build-up of military assets on the border of Russia with Ukraine may merely be posturing [1], or it may be preparation for an invasion (which doesn't seem impossible a priori, given that Russia has invaded Ukraine in the past decade). In either case, it seems to me that this sort of international posturing/brinksmanship is very relevant to the article's discussion. A key question the article seemingly poses is whether war will die out, or whether it remains an essential part of society. [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/how-real-is-the-threat-of-a-russian-invasion-of-ukraine https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/how-real-is-the-thr...
  - dang 5y ago
    That's a classic example of a tangent (single point of contact, leading in a completely different direction), and flamewar tangents are most of all what we want to avoid here. Hot generic topics are like black holes that suck in any unsuspecting spaceships that fly nearby. Our goal is to steer clear of those, because they lead to the most repetitive and inflamed sorts of discussion, drowning out anything that is quieter or more obscure, and ultimately, anything interesting. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20black%20hole%20-pigment&sort=byDate&type=story&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - anikan_vader 5y ago
      I see. That makes sense.

by tpmx 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

helge9210 5y ago

This means a possibility for me to die in this war (fighting against Russians). Is this how inevitability of the war was felt in Europe hundred of years ago?

motohagiography 5y ago

Strange to see war starting to surface the mainstream zeigeist, as it's been happening predictably in slow motion as the consequence of obvious incentives for about 18 months, and then it goes up all at once. From everything I can tell from reading about previous ones, war is a kind of triumph of the absurd, where meaning is extinguished and all that is left is the violence until the attrition establishes some coherence again. My bets are Russia re-establishes some of its soviet era borders between the Black and the Baltic seas, including Ukraine, then possibly Latvia or Estonia. Israel is almost out of alternatives on Iran, and China will consolidate Hong Kong and Taiwan in Xi's lifetime. The only thing standing in any of their way is the alliance of Biden, Bojo, Macron, and Trudeau getting enough democratic traction for a draft and total war. So nothing, basically. Anyway, remember to act surprised.

TheGigaChad 5y ago
How and how much are you betting?

dang 5y ago

Please don't take HN threads on generic flamewar tangents and especially not nationalistic ones. That's not what this site is for. (Edit: and we've had to ask you about this numerous times in the past. That's not cool.) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tpmx 5y ago
Okay. Sorry about that. I thought it was relevant enough, but I defer to your judgement and expertise on this issue.
anikan_vader 5y ago
Hmm. The guidelines say to avoid unrelated controversy, but possible military conflict in Eastern Europe does seem to be of some relevance to the topic at hand. After all, the name of the article is "War Starts," and it begins by clearly hinting at the tensions between the US and China. The build-up of military assets on the border of Russia with Ukraine may merely be posturing [1], or it may be preparation for an invasion (which doesn't seem impossible a priori, given that Russia has invaded Ukraine in the past decade). In either case, it seems to me that this sort of international posturing/brinksmanship is very relevant to the article's discussion. A key question the article seemingly poses is whether war will die out, or whether it remains an essential part of society. [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/how-real-is-the-threat-of-a-russian-invasion-of-ukraine https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/how-real-is-the-thr...
- dang 5y ago
  That's a classic example of a tangent (single point of contact, leading in a completely different direction), and flamewar tangents are most of all what we want to avoid here. Hot generic topics are like black holes that suck in any unsuspecting spaceships that fly nearby. Our goal is to steer clear of those, because they lead to the most repetitive and inflamed sorts of discussion, drowning out anything that is quieter or more obscure, and ultimately, anything interesting. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20black%20hole%20-pigment&sort=byDate&type=story&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - anikan_vader 5y ago
    I see. That makes sense.