Initially I thought you might be right:are you trying to be too-harsh?
But then I read what you posted and realized I was far from vituperative enough. At 70 kg per man, the quantity of Ukrainians killed is 500,000 x 70 = 35,000 tons, more or less. Add the Russians killed at about the same weight per man = 50,000 x 70 = 3,500. Apparently that's about the right ratio and total numbers. Near enough for government work anyway as the governments of Ukraine and USA and UK and Finland and other Eurostan barbarians are indifferent to the mass carnage.
For comparison = from Cyberspace reporting regarding Napoleon's 1812 Overture effort attacking Russia:
When the remnant of his army was 60 miles (roughly 100 km) east of Vilnius, on December 5, 1812, Napoleon had handed the command over to Muratand had hastened on ahead in order to reach Paris before the news of his disaster. It is estimated that of the 612,000 combatants who entered Russiaonly 112,000 returned to the frontier. Among the casualties, 100,000 are thought to have been killed in action, 200,000 to have died from other causes, 50,000 to have been left sick in hospitals, 50,000 to have deserted, and 100,000 to have been taken as prisoners of war. The French themselves lost 70,000 in action and 120,000 wounded, as against the non-French contingents’ 30,000 and 60,000. Russian casualties have been estimated at 200,000 killed, 50,000 dispersed or deserting, and 150,000 wounded.
I find it strange that several generations later, we are re-enacting those bygone wars as though people can't learn anything and haven't improved thinking. Most people I speak to simply parrot the incantations about why Russia in general and Putin in particular are evil incarnate and must be fought tooth and nail to the last Ukrainian, and probably a swarm of Poles and no doubt the 101 Airborne and a lot more besides as the crazed Yanks seem not to have an off-switch until their own flag-draped coffins arrive in droves. This time, I expect that deliveries of coffins won't be necessary as Russia can fry them alive right there in Peoria just as the USA boiled and burned alive umpty thousand Japanese in the first atomic bomb war.
I guess obese Americans would burn quite differently from little 1945 Japanese, but the horror would be comparable though scaled up x 10,000 more or less as "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" kilotons are now measured in the megaton with 10 megatons plentiful and about 10,000 functional explosives, near enough.
By comparison, some economic failure due to ideological self-destruction in Aotearoa-Zimbabwe is trivial. So I think not too harsh. Not harsh enough. It's a strange moral failure, loss of ethics, deficit in VVVs, absence of thinking, presence of ignorance, dominance of stupidity.
I know people are obdurate, ignorant, obtuse, bloody-minded, stupid, with florid little limbic systems and amygdalas that have them drooling like rabid dogs [I assume that's what rabid dogs do as per writings I've read though maybe such dogs just lie down, whimper and die in reality]. So I find there's no point trying to reason with them. It's very strange considering they will certainly die in the process of the war they are loving and judging by Blinken and Cotton about to go nuclear despite them thinking that a bad idea = but they are under pressure to launch against their better judgment.
Absurd:considering Ukraine is a liberal democracy
It's a brutal horrible corrupt murderous state. See what they did to people in Odessa and Kiev during and after the coup, and subsequently in the east to the Russians. Are they hiring volunteers at market rates, or press-ganging slaves for the meat mincing? It's the latter = slavery with death the norm for the slaves. Presumably there are some Ukrainians and supporting cast who enjoy doing war and taking their chances.
The only problem I'm aware of re China and Indo Pacific is the threat to Taiwan by China and some disputes over who owns what in the South China Sea.Indeed, the best way for New Zealand to contribute to countering Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific would be to significantly increase its military support for Ukraine.
A better way to counter an attack on Taiwan is to back Taiwan and stop backing Ukraine and start backing Russia, fixing the Nordstream pipelines, opening trade and everything else. Tell Ukraine they aren't getting Crimea or Donetsk or Luhansk or whatsit ZZZ and they shouldn't have joined the planned attack on Crimea after Crimea's reasonable annexation after the coup.
If Ukraine helps Russia and the so-called liberal democracies, then China would be surrounded.
But here's my suggestion for preventing attack by China on Taiwan. Tell Taiwan to change their constitution to delete the part that says they own China and aim to conquer it. Tell Taiwan that their constitution should read "We're good buddies of China and will help China defend itself against attack by Japan, USA. We are autonomous from China and will not provide China a forward base for attacks on USA, Japan and whoever. Provided China lets us deposit money in their banks and buy and sell shares in each other's companies and stuff we promise not to whine about the price of rice. We will hold annual celebrations to commemorate this great settlement of bygone horrors and foolishness. If USA doesn't like it, they can "insert rude words here".
etc....
Bullshit rubbish:If Russia is defeated or forced to withdraw, it will be a serious blow to Xi’s leadership and complicate any plans he might have for annexing Taiwan. This would go some way towards bolstering the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific that is so clearly in New Zealand’s interests.
I have not seen a copy of the "rules-based order" nor its definitions in "the Indo-Pacific" wherever that is. Who is the idiot who wrote that?
Mqurice |
