I thought the colonel interview was interesting, but he really ducked the part about Ukraine and countries in general being able to decide for themselves who they want to align with. No country has joined NATO under duress, and he seems to be pushing the idea that a country's sovereignty is sacred, but that they shouldn't be able to make sovereign decisions without triggering and unleashing a "murderous" Russia. A country is either sovereign or it isn't. It can't be a case where a country is 100% sovereign, yet it has to be forced to align with Russia for the sake of not upsetting their authoritarian neighbours. His point seems to be that there needs to be a power balance to keep Russia peaceful and that NATO should have just forsaken Ukraine in order to keep Russia relevant, but people are not livestock to be traded off just to keep dictators happy.
I think is point was places like Donbas, Crimea and Taiwan are part of a sovereign Russia and China and have been influenced by the west/NATO. My take away is they can’t condemn Russia because they would like to do the same to Taiwan
There is a comment early on something along the lines of Russia and China not being whole nations yet
It seems in that interview that China's position is they have their own interests, and it's not on them to stand up to other countries if they are being awful. I think that's a pretty naive way to look at internalization politics. If you are enabling a country to do horrible things, you are complicit. Taking a stand may mean sacrificing future relationships with Russia, which may be a negative for China, but it isn't an excuse not to do it. This is exactly how Germany ended up where they are. China should see that as a lesson, not a blueprint.
I thought it was a great interview providing insight into the Chinese perspective. You don't have to agree with it. And, is their position much different than Canada's when it comes to the Americans. When was the last time we condemned an American invasion into a sovereign state? Does two wrongs make a right? No, but it's not a huge stretch to see that point of view whether you agree with it or not.
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I thought it was a great interview providing insight into the Chinese perspective. You don't have to agree with it. And, is their position much different than Canada's when it comes to the Americans. When was the last time we condemned an American invasion into a sovereign state? Does two wrongs make a right? No, but it's not a huge stretch to see that point of view whether you agree with it or not.
Probably Chretian to Bush RE: Iraq war.
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I remember being so happy we didn't have a conservative in power at that time. I think that was the first time I saw major cracks in how conservatives operate (was raised by conservative voters and considered myself a conservative up until around then).
That Iraq invasion was so unjust and based on an obvious lie (I clearly remember the UN weapons inspectors saying there were not WMDs in Iraq). Chretien nailed it and saved many Canadian lives while preventing us from having blood on our hands (I realize a handful of Canadians were involved with helping the US military there).
Stephen Harper publicly supported the war with Iraq and wanted Canadians to participate in the invasion. Fataing POS and fataing POS voters who eventually voted such a tit into power. Had he been in power at the time, we'd be sitting here today with more Canadian soldiers dead or dealing with PTSD at what they would have seen and done.
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I remember being so happy we didn't have a conservative in power at that time. I think that was the first time I saw major cracks in how conservatives operate (was raised by conservative voters and considered myself a conservative up until around then).
That Iraq invasion was so unjust and based on an obvious lie (I clearly remember the UN weapons inspectors saying there were not WMDs in Iraq). Chretien nailed it and saved many Canadian lives while preventing us from having blood on our hands (I realize a handful of Canadians were involved with helping the US military there).
Stephen Harper publicly supported the war with Iraq and wanted Canadians to participate in the invasion. Fataing POS and fataing POS voters who eventually voted such a tit into power. Had he been in power at the time, we'd be sitting here today with more Canadian soldiers dead or dealing with PTSD at what they would have seen and done.
I can't recall which Conservative said it at the time, may have even been Harper, but I remember one of them saying that there were going to billions of dollars in contracts handed out after the invasion and it was a shame that Canadian companies would be blacklisted from bidding because our Prime Minister wouldn't support the war.
In an indirect way, Canada did support the invasion and occupation of Iraq though. Canada took on a larger role in Afghanistan in order to free up the Americans when Iraq started to go sideways.
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I remember taking a terrible job the summer of 2002 as a welder's helper, months before the actual invasion when Bush was 'investigating' weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It turns out we were manufactuaring hangar doors for temporary airfields. Bush had a one-track mind back then, and frankly didn't give a rats ass if they had weapons of mass destruction or not.
I remember taking a terrible job the summer of 2002 as a welder's helper, months before the actual invasion when Bush was 'investigating' weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It turns out we were manufactuaring hangar doors for temporary airfields. Bush had a one-track mind back then, and frankly didn't give a rats ass if they had weapons of mass destruction or not.
He had to finish what his daddy started
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That colonel was a fantastic interview. He's not some fanatical communist maniac, he's very measured in his responses. He says that Russia is their biggest neighbor, they need to be careful.
But he did make it clear that China is against war, and peace is in China's interest.
Which isn't surprising because China needs economic dependence from the West to assert their dominance.
The entire world has further created issues with the supply chain, and perhaps moved a lot more dependence back on the US.
As an example Europe now very much depends on the US for their energy needs, and I'm sure China isn't happy about that at all.
It seems in that interview that China's position is they have their own interests, and it's not on them to stand up to other countries if they are being awful. I think that's a pretty naive way to look at internalization politics. If you are enabling a country to do horrible things, you are complicit. Taking a stand may mean sacrificing future relationships with Russia, which may be a negative for China, but it isn't an excuse not to do it. This is exactly how Germany ended up where they are. China should see that as a lesson, not a blueprint.
The thing is, every country on the planet will do things for their own interests as the top priority. The west enabling the Saudis and Israel with funding and weapons to murder Yemenis and Palestinians is to support Western interests in that region. Just as China, eager to keep Russia as their largest neighbor clear of western influence given their longest shared border but also as a source of energy insurance given the Muricans could cut off the maritime supply line since they have bases everywhere in a region that isn't there's.
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Had he been in power at the time, we'd be sitting here today with more Canadian soldiers dead or dealing with PTSD at what they would have seen and done.
And we got a ####ing #### tonne of them already
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Corporal Jean-Marc H. BECHARD, 6 Aug 1993
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A little update from me. Long story short, we have made it. Me and my family now have Israeli citizenship and I have a fairly well-paid job in Israel now.
After fleeing to Kazakhstan, I spent a month in a small town Jarkent near Chinese border. I had to book a two-bedroom room in a local motel, because all one-bedroom numbers were booked by other evaders.
Staying in Kazakhstan have significantly affected my view of the war. Apparently, Russian politicians have made several claims about how Kazakhstan is historically a Russian land and is not a real country. Since Kazakhstan is in no way between Russia and NATO, those claims have voided the theory that Ukrainian invasion has anything to do with NATO expansion or with the West in general. The war is merely about Russian centuries-long habit of expanding and conquering neighbors. I don't even think it has much to do with Putin. Russia is just naturally expansive county and it always has been. On top of this, because I had to uproot my family and immigrate in the middle of my life because of Russian actions, I have become considerably more russophobic.
When we arrived in Kazakhstan, me and other Russian evaders were taken to the local police office, where it was spelled it out to us that any imperialistic stuff is not going to be tolerated here, but otherwise we are welcome to stay.
While in Kazakhstan, I was technically on vacation, and my boss tried to keep me in, but eventually told me that he's not allowed to employ me unless I am inside Russia and thus I have no choice but to return or quit my job. I said that I can't return and thus have to quit. To my surprise, I was paid the severance package in full even though the employer was aware that if they don't pay I would be powerless to extract any money from them.
While I was in Kazakhstan, my wife stayed in Moscow and was preparing for immigration. Particularly she managed to rent out our apartment. It was a miracle because not many people need to rent a unit in Moscow, and those few who need it, have abundance of abandoned flats to chose from.
Since I have only allowed to spend 30 days in Kazakhstan, I then flew to Turkey. My wife and our two kids also flew there with all the documents required to proven Israeli bloodline. From there we immediately flew to Israel.
Due to an overwhelming flow of immigrants, waiting lines are very long and we had to wait 1.5 months for our interview. To save funds, we lived in a village near Jordan border, which suddenly proved to be a wonderful place to stay and my children enjoyed it very much.
We have passed our interview where the biggest problem appeared to be the American citizenship of my children. It entailed suspicion that we are not really interested on joining Israel but rather looking to move on to USA soon after. Nonetheless we were given citizenship, perhaps because the optics of forcing US-born children back into Russia was not something Israeli immigration authorities wanted to deal with, particularly with overwhelming evidence that those children are Jewish. After receiving citizenship we were utterly busy settling in and finding a job. We were beginning to run a bit low in money although at no point we were in immediate danger.
After some uncertainty and considerable pressure on our family, I have landed a job in a global company that actually donating millions of dollars to Ukraine. Thus, from now on I am contributing a bit to the Ukrainian side of the war. My contributions are minimal obviously, but there's only so much an ordinary man can do anyway.
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I thought it was a great interview providing insight into the Chinese perspective. You don't have to agree with it. And, is their position much different than Canada's when it comes to the Americans. When was the last time we condemned an American invasion into a sovereign state? Does two wrongs make a right? No, but it's not a huge stretch to see that point of view whether you agree with it or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
I remember being so happy we didn't have a conservative in power at that time. I think that was the first time I saw major cracks in how conservatives operate (was raised by conservative voters and considered myself a conservative up until around then).
That Iraq invasion was so unjust and based on an obvious lie (I clearly remember the UN weapons inspectors saying there were not WMDs in Iraq). Chretien nailed it and saved many Canadian lives while preventing us from having blood on our hands (I realize a handful of Canadians were involved with helping the US military there).
Stephen Harper publicly supported the war with Iraq and wanted Canadians to participate in the invasion. Fataing POS and fataing POS voters who eventually voted such a tit into power. Had he been in power at the time, we'd be sitting here today with more Canadian soldiers dead or dealing with PTSD at what they would have seen and done.
Lol this war is way better for liberals than that conservative war. Let’s get to WW3 hurry.
What a simpleton way to look at it.
When all the facts end up coming out after this is done there will be plenty of liberal “bad actors” in this, start following the money.
Pointman, your update is truly the highlight of my day. Couldn't be happier you and your family made it out safely and achieved citizenship! Cheers man! That is quite the journey you all had and I'm sure there was a lot of uncertainty at many points (and probably still is). Sounds like you have a great support system with your former employer, wife and those around you. Hopefully more of CP pops in here to read your post.
Looking forward to your posts and insight, as always
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Should the President show up to every 20-30 car rail spill because conservative media throws around terms like Chernobyl 2.0 to whip morons into a lather? Same folks who are completely opposed to any sort of regulations on industry.
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Post of the day. Thank you for sharing your update Pointman, glad to hear you and your family made it to Israel safely. Others might have crumpled under the weight of that kind of journey, especially when you're escaping war. But it sounds like you had a plan, and it worked out.
