It’s planted in the fall, overwinters, and is harvested in the summer.
1 Like
Potentially, also a good rough summary of Putin’s special military operation.
1 Like
Sounds good. Let’s do it.
Gotta give Boris some props for this.
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1512879325988765700?t=i2rfAjic-YbvrgZdmS9RDg&s=19
https://twitter.com/BGrueskin/status/1512877564204883975?t=t1kvOCsN5LlUCkl9-sIKuQ&s=19
4 Likes
How do you know which one has the salt and which one has the pepper?
4 Likes
I was listening to a discussion of power and corruption with a political scientist named Brian Klaas on Sean Carroll’s podcast, and I thought some of it was particularly interesting and could be relevant here.
People say we need to give Putin an exit that he can accept and sell to his people, but maybe that’s not true.
Klaas describes a game where $100 is to be split between two players. The first player, the proposer, chosen at random, makes an offer to split the money in some specific way and the other player gets to choose whether to accept or reject the offer. A rejected offer means both players get zero.
Most people start to reject offers when they get more lopsided than about a 70-30 split. But psychopaths don’t do that. They might get pissed off at a 95-5 offer, but they’ll take it. They just do what’s best for them.
So if Putin is a psychopath (seems likely), and Russian psychopaths are like Ivy League student psychopaths (why not?), maybe the result can be extended a little. Putin might well accept any result that’s better than the alternative and we don’t have to worry about giving him jack. Let him find his own exit. This is consistent with what Russian former oligarchs/politicians have said.
3 Likes
Give him a 100-0 offer, maybe 105-(-5).
A friend of mine is a professor of international relations at Georgia Tech, specializing in WMD and technology. She got an interview request from NTV to come and talk about the 50th anniversary of of the signing of the Biological Weapons Convention. As she’s going for full professorship, international media requests are a big deal, especially in her field (she’s been on BBC and some others).
Obviously she turned it down. There’s no winning when they can just say whatever they want in their translation, re-edit everything, and use it as propaganda.
She’s one of the smartest people I know, and always has a great perspective on current events.
3 Likes
I see the aging thing isn’t unique to US presidents. Boris looks 10 years older than when he took office.
Holding something handed you by a stranger in Kyiv seems like a really bad idea for both Johnson and Zelensky.
2 Likes
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1512895305909424129
Possibly good news. This insider site seems to be resistance news, presumably published from outside Russia.
It would’ve been amazing if Zelenskyy gave Boris a pumpkin.
The problem is if he views an L as leading to his almost certain demise at home, then he’s better off continuing the war.
I mean, it’d be funny, but Zelenskyy isn’t nearly this stupid. He kisses ass to get the arms he needs, just like with Trump
Conflict Intelligence Team and several others think the battle for Donbass has essentially started, although the RU reconstituted brigades need more time to recover from losing battle for Kyiv before being deployed back in. In general the feeling is 50/50 chances, mainly coming from RU 10-1 personnel advantage in the Donbass theater, and UA needing to defend a wider front than they faced in Kyiv or Kharkiv so far. it does seem that RU will have better doctrine and tactics this time, but they are also going in having spent a ton of initial resources, and having a very tenuous air support situation. UA is going to have Switchblades now too. slowing down and ambushing long convoys is going to become less of a thing, but UA will turn even more to guerrilla tactics, hitting RU brigades at higher rates and virtually anytime and anywhere.
The breakthrough doctrine with tactical nukes scares the shit out of me.
2 Likes
From the point of view of Ukraine and the West, compromise is acceptable, but it’s better not to play for a draw. If Putin is losing, let him continue. It’s not risk-free, but we can expect him to do what’s best for himself before it gets to the point he’s as good as dead at home. Push him.