The Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Riedquat]

My dude everyone loses WW3.

Mao disagreed and said China and therefore Socialism would survive.

A while back now. It's hard to see how anyone could win in something that leaves the world almost uninhabitable (and that's the optimisic assessment). Leaders who believe otherwise are a massive, massive danger.

[Jonathan101]

My dude everyone loses WW3.

Mao disagreed and said China and therefore Socialism would survive.

A while back now. It's hard to see how anyone could win in something that leaves the world almost uninhabitable (and that's the optimisic assessment). Leaders who believe otherwise are a massive, massive danger.

Mao expressed the opinion a few times that if nuclear war would kill the vast majority of the human race, then Marxists should be 100% in favour of it because China was the most populated country in the world and China was Marxist so any survivors would be- statistically- more likely to be Marxists therefore Communism wins.

He might have been trolling, but this sort of thing is why the Soviets stopped helping China build their first nuclear weapons. When Nixon visited China, a member of his entourage found himself having to being out a map and explain to a Chinese official how devastating a nuclear war on China would actually be.

[TGLS]

Yep. That's the thing about nuclear war. Anyone who thinks it's possible to win in any way, shape or form is a dangerous idiot.

What's really, really scaring me is that Putin appears to be a dangerous idiot.

Well, the big problem about nuclear war is that pretending to be a dangerous idiot is a good strategy.

[Frustration]

Basically, we ain't just London

And there are radically different accents for different parts of London, I'm told. Supposedly they are eroding in the modern world, so that it's no longer possible to identify what street someone grew up on from their speech, but some broad categories remain.

That's absurd to Americans, like saying that people from different parts of New York City should be mutually unintelligible. But it seems to be the truth.

[McAvoy]

My dude everyone loses WW3.

Mao disagreed and said China and therefore Socialism would survive.

A while back now. It's hard to see how anyone could win in something that leaves the world almost uninhabitable (and that's the optimisic assessment). Leaders who believe otherwise are a massive, massive danger.

Mao expressed the opinion a few times that if nuclear war would kill the vast majority of the human race, then Marxists should be 100% in favour of it because China was the most populated country in the world and China was Marxist so any survivors would be- statistically- more likely to be Marxists therefore Communism wins.

He might have been trolling, but this sort of thing is why the Soviets stopped helping China build their first nuclear weapons. When Nixon visited China, a member of his entourage found himself having to being out a map and explain to a Chinese official how devastating a nuclear war on China would actually be.

Hopefully China figured that out in the past 50 years.

[Frustration]

Pyrrhic victory as it may be, there is no conceivable way the West could lose WW3.

Everyone would lose WW3, especially those who wouldn't be directly involved.

[Draco Dracul]

Pyrrhic victory as it may be, there is no conceivable way the West could lose WW3.

Everyone would lose WW3, especially those who wouldn't be directly involved.

Only the first half is true. Those not directly involved would lose less because they have intact infrastructure and aren't dealing with millions of people instantly dying.

[Frustration]

No, they'd be dealing with millions of people slowly dying, and contaminated croplands, for generations afterwards.

[Riedquat]

Yep. That's the thing about nuclear war. Anyone who thinks it's possible to win in any way, shape or form is a dangerous idiot.

What's really, really scaring me is that Putin appears to be a dangerous idiot.

Well, the big problem about nuclear war is that pretending to be a dangerous idiot is a good strategy.

True enough - is Putin a dangerous idiot or just pretending to be one?

[Jonathan101]

Yep. That's the thing about nuclear war. Anyone who thinks it's possible to win in any way, shape or form is a dangerous idiot.

What's really, really scaring me is that Putin appears to be a dangerous idiot.

Well, the big problem about nuclear war is that pretending to be a dangerous idiot is a good strategy.

True enough - is Putin a dangerous idiot or just pretending to be one?

He's desperate and might be more concerned about his job and his life than his country if his back is against the wall.

Also, there are talks of tactical nukes (for the battlefield), which complicate things.