The Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[phantom000]

Meanwhile; GOP are against domestic COVID relief but approve an even larger support package for Ukraine.

https://nypost.com/2022/03/10/house-pas ... 19-relief/

[CharlesPhipps]

Meanwhile; GOP are against domestic COVID relief but approve an even larger support package for Ukraine.

https://nypost.com/2022/03/10/house-pas ... 19-relief/

Yes, they're motivated by covering up the fact that they were bought and sold by Russia.

At least until their checks bounced.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

The issue of domestic financing isn't really about available funds. It's more about treating the market aspects of the economy as a machine, in which they believe cash injections will systemically mess things up. This is contrary of course to what Democrats believe.

[Frustration]

Really? When? Because the worst I've seen of it is use as an empty buzzword.

Historical research. It was used all the time to describe the forcing of aboriginal people off their land, the kidnapping of their children, and the attempts to obliterate their cultures and languages. It was also used to describe the confiscation of land by governments to further projects by the ultra-rich, and such events as the Annexation of Hawaii and the Spanish-American war.

Really, the examples I can think of are too numerous to mention. But pretty much everything about that last two hundred years that we now think of as abhorrent, has been described as "progress" and/or "progressive" at the time.

One of the problems with modern "progressive" people is that they believe - no, they *feel* - that whatever stances they happen to agree with at the present moment are objective realities that only monsters fail to acknowledge as unquestionable truths. They both ignore their own changing certainties and the almost inevitable changing of consensus with time.

George Orwell didn't invent the mindset, but he did describe it very accurately.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Really? When? Because the worst I've seen of it is use as an empty buzzword.

Historical research. It was used all the time to describe the forcing of aboriginal people off their land, the kidnapping of their children, and the attempts to obliterate their cultures and languages. It was also used to describe the confiscation of land by governments to further projects by the ultra-rich, and such events as the Annexation of Hawaii and the Spanish-American war.

Really, the examples I can think of are too numerous to mention. But pretty much everything about that last two hundred years that we now think of as abhorrent, has been described as "progress" and/or "progressive" at the time.

One of the problems with modern "progressive" people is that they believe - no, they *feel* - that whatever stances they happen to agree with at the present moment are objective realities that only monsters fail to acknowledge as unquestionable truths. They both ignore their own changing certainties and the almost inevitable changing of consensus with time.

George Orwell didn't invent the mindset, but he did describe it very accurately.

The use of "progressive" to denote political leaning is generically distinctive to "conservative" in political practice. People throughout history have either voted progressive or conservative, but it's not a one-sided political elitist whistle. Progressive leaning is practically speaking social investment. But with the understandable notion of how free market of ideas plays into modern western democracy, it starts to resemble social gambling.

Example given: we have Democratic representatives in our republic (representative democracy), whom the public gambles on by voting to proceed with progressive measures that incur a fixed cost to society. Opposite Republicans who avoid such gambling.

[Frustration]

Looks like I won't cut back on my drinking anytime soon.

"Looks like we picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue."

[Frustration]

The use of "progressive" to denote political leaning is generically distinctive to "conservative" in political practice.

Yes, and such terms are almost always lies. 'Liberals' aren't liberal, 'Conservatives' aren't conservative, 'Labor' constantly betrays the interests of the working class, 'Democrats' are remarkably undemocratic while 'Republicans' wouldn't recognize a republic if it bit their faces off, etc. etc.

It's like B5: the names of all the governments, Earth's included, are inaccurate to the actual structure of those governments. I've got to give JMS credit for that.

I've got to go look it up now: what's the full name of the current Russian government?

[Draco Dracul]

I've got to go look it up now: what's the full name of the current Russian government?

It's the Russian Federation and it is arranged as a federation in a similar way to Germany.

[Frustration]

Thanks, Draco Dracul!

Checking the definition of 'federation': Wikipedia's definition:

A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party, the states or the federal political body. Alternatively, a federation is a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided between a central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.

Do the federated states in Russia have any actual power or authority?

[TGLS]

Here's how the European Parliament puts it:

Vladimir Putin's rule has seen a growing concentration of power in his hands. Legislative reforms, together with the dominance of his United Russia Party in regional parliaments and executives, severely constrain their capacity to pursue independent policies. Like the Soviet Union before it, Russia thus functions as a unitary state, despite its constitutional status as a federation.