How to defeat Russia….without nucs….

[scook]

And it just occurred to me that Russia probably has pretty sophisticated satellite imaging to spy on the Ukrainian military - I hope we’re sharing our intel with them. That could be a real game changer

[bgreene]

Russian super rich “ Oligarchs “ may be turning AGAINST Putin because sanctions and public anger is turning AGAINST them.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/man-p...224248695.html

[scook]

I don’t know how sensitive they are to public anger (unless it affects their businesses) but I bet losing their yachts, fancy luxury apartments, money frozen in non- Russian banks and travel privileges is pretty annoying to them. I saw a YouTube of a few of the yachts - that’s got to be getting their attention.

I hope the guy mentioned in the link, who put the $1 million bounty on Putin, is watching his back.

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by scook

I don’t know how sensitive they are to public anger (unless it affects their businesses) but I bet losing their yachts, fancy luxury apartments, money frozen in non- Russian banks and travel privileges is pretty annoying to them. I saw a YouTube of a few of the yachts - that’s got to be getting their attention.

I hope the guy mentioned in the link, who put the $1 million bounty on Putin, is watching his back.

Agreed….and nations of free world have to INCREASE the pressure on Putin and his corrupt clan .

[scook]

This is where negotiation skill is important. Squeezing Putin personally increases the likelihood of him lashing out even more irrationally. Squeezing the oligarchs increases the likelihood of him being taken out internally.

It looks like we’re dealing with someone who’s gone around the bend and is best dealt with by his own people - they’ll be inclined to do it if they’re squeezed enough.

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by scook

This is where negotiation skill is important. Squeezing Putin personally increases the likelihood of him lashing out even more irrationally. Squeezing the oligarchs increases the likelihood of him being taken out internally.

It looks like we’re dealing with someone who’s gone around the bend and is best dealt with by his own people - they’ll be inclined to do it if they’re squeezed enough.

Agreed and it seems it will get worse before better.
Putin’s screwed up the world with this senseless destruction of Ukraine .

Longer term impact could very well be:
1. We return to focus on oil and gas drilling including in our vast and most pristine remaining natural regions, where spills and huge mess will no doubt occur- on land and sea.
Global warming pace continues to increase with all the disruptive impacts forecast.

2. Right wing Republican wins perhaps including trump return with longer term “ systems & personnel replacements” that ultimately result in our nation run by sudo-dictator - no longer a truly democratic nation. Disinformation becomes same as the Russians fed by their government and crack downs against Americans that don’t support .

Putin’s made a huge mess - he’s no genius - he’s an aging Russian KGB Director trying to reignite the Soviet Union.

[scook]

It is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

I think Putin is worse than just an aging KGB director. Clearly he wants to rebuild the former Soviet Union and has for many years. It seems that from isolation, or some other reason(s) he’s had a mental health deterioration beyond any condition he previously had. Condoleezza Rice, in a recent interview, said she knew him, had met several times with him and he seemed to be a very different person now than she remembered.

One positive thing he’s done I’d to unite most of the world against him.

An alternate view of the future is that we return to energy independence so that we’re not hostage to countries that hate us and want our destruction, and pursue renewable energy in a rational way, recognizing the facts of where we actually are. In a way that doesn’t brutalize the middle class and the poor and choke our economy. A healthy economy generates resources that can go to research toward reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Bjorn Lomborg suggests such an approach - investing a small percentage of GDP to make renewables CHEAP, and not punish regular people with astronomical energy prices.

Whatever Republican will hopefully be elected, we can look forward to a much more rational energy policy. With our separation of powers, the notion of a pseudo-dictator isn’t a remotely viable scenario - that has a zero probability of occurring. The closest we’re coming to that is the current progressive drive to encourage illegal voting and Biden’s repeated attempts to ignore clearly decided precedents by the Supreme Court, among legion other things.

Some of our energy deposits are located in vast, pristine parts of our land. Extraction takes place in what looks on a map like a minute speck of that land, and while there might be a spill, environmental requirements and much improved extraction technology would minimize even that, as well as making cleanup more thorough.

We need to be governed with a recognition of where we are and with executive skill - both of these components seem to be very much lacking right now.