Posted on 04/21/2022 7:13:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Garry ‘s Elo rating was in the 2800s. Deep Blue II’s was comparable or maybe slightly higher. There was no guarantee that Deep Blue would consistently win against Garry and there was even a real chance it could lose if Garry figured out how Deep Blue calculated its moves. That was the other risk. Today even a laptop running freely available Stockfish is rated around 3500 that no human can stand up against. It wasn’t like that back then. IBM was good but not significantly better than the best grandmasters.
I think you made my point - Putin is NOT a master politician!
Politics is the art of persuasion, politics is about working with people ... Ronald Reagan was a great politician
if you don’t like people, you can’t be a master politician - RR loved people, which is partly why he succeeded
by contrast, Putin hates people, and it shows ... so the only way he can succeed is with gangster tactics - force and bullying
Of course a lot of people are better than Putin at various things. However, Putin thinks he is pretty good at chess and strategic political planning. I don’t ththink Biden needs to ask Hunter about Ukrainian energy policy. It was pretty clear that Ukraine was planning to develop its oil and gas discoveries in East Ukraine and Crimea. Ukraine in 2012 had signed contracts with oil maajors to engage in exploratory drilling. Putin certainly did not want Ukraine developing oil and gas to sell to Europe in competition with Russia’s. Thus he started planning and executing the takeover of Crimea in 2014, which resulted in the end of the oil company exploration contracts. Putin also started sending in Russian mercenaries to Donbas area to stir up trouble and give him an excuse to invade. So without input from Hunter, it is clear Ukraine wanted to develop its oil and gas resources, and Putin has planned and is executing his plan to steal them.
so what, he was wrong. Kinda like Bush1, Bush 2, Obama, Clinton, etc..... you mean Russia's "great strategic" thinkers are worse than ours... think of the sh#t hole he has and think of all the resources and abundance we have... and compare results of 20-30 years of wars bleeding our men and money away.
It was pretty clear that Ukraine was planning to develop its oil and gas discoveries in East Ukraine and Crimea. Ukraine in 2012 had signed contracts with oil majors to engage in exploratory drilling
yep, it was so clear that they had great oil companies, that they had to hire petroleum engineering geniuses and oil and gas business savants like Romney, Clinton, Biden, Graham, McCain to get on their board of directors in order to show them how the energy sector works... f'in joke pal.
Thus he started planning and executing the takeover of Crimea in 2014, which resulted in the end of the oil company exploration contracts.
The Crimea was in order for Russia to have a warm water port and control of it's southern border. The Ukrainians started cutting off the water supply with diversion and blocking the Dnipro River and estuary.
Putin also started sending in Russian mercenaries to Donbas area to stir up trouble and give him an excuse to invade.
Might want to look at what the Ukrainians have done and allowed to Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine and how many were killed.
The "trouble" started when some idiot at State Dept decided that the Ukraine will be "fast tracked" into NATO.
Unlike our great leaders, when Putin puts a "red line" and tells you that any former Soviet Republic joins NATO, he will consider it an act of war..... believe him. Ask Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Crimea (Ukrainian territory).
Russian is TELLING the Baltics and Finland that if they continue to "threaten" NATO expansion, they will destroy them. The Baltics thought that being in NATO was going to "protect" them but instead found out that they went from paying protection money from one mob boss to a bunch of mob bosses.... they are NOTHING of importance and only useful as trip wires and a gun to the head of Russia......that's why we have a couple of hundred Marines in Estonia and USA troops in Latvia.... they are bait.
Look at the history of the "color" revolutions in the former Soviet republics.... it looks a lot like what happened here in the last election... it was training for taking over countries.
Russian foreign policy for several centuries has been to have a warm water port. In fact I have been thinking that if Putin were a rational, not vicious, man it might even be possible to negotiate such an arrangement somewhere. This could include permission to use some port space in Crimea, and establishment of a travel path from Crimea to Russia that Russia could use for commerce. I took a look at the Danzig Corridor situation to see what did or did not work about that solution for a landlocked country. The DC failed for several reasons. It was very wide, 20 to 70 miles (although that was because most of the population was Polish). Poland refused cooperation with Germany, although with the rise of Hitler that is probably easy to understand. Germany wanted to build a highway to connect the Prussian German area with Germany and was refused.
So thinking about those kinds of issues, my idea is for such a corridor to only be a mile or two wide, for it to be supervised by an international entity with participation of both Ukraine and Russia. Highways could be built from Crimea to Russia and from the Azov area to the rest of Ukraine. Military transport would not be allowed by Russia on this corridor except by mutual agreement and supervision. This is just the start of an idea. Any further suggestions?
Ukraine may not have had significant oil developers, but since when has that stopped countries from partnering with oil majors to develop their oil and gas resources. Of course there is plenty of opportunity for corruption. I am not sure what methods should be applied to prevent that besides “sunshine.”
I was not aware that Georgia and Azerbaijan had asked to join NATO. When was that? Belarus might want to, but they are definitely in a pickle on that issue. Putin’s actions have definitely increased Finland and Sweden’s interest in joining NATO, so that is another negative for his war. So all in all, I would say that Putin’s big idea has not been very helpful for the Russian people. But then, what can you expect from a dictator?
So thinking about those kinds of issues, my idea is for such a corridor to only be a mile or two wide, for it to be supervised by an international entity with participation of both Ukraine and Russia. Highways could be built from Crimea to Russia and from the Azov area to the rest of Ukraine. Military transport would not be allowed by Russia on this corridor except by mutual agreement and supervision. This is just the start of an idea. Any further suggestions?
***Yeah. Combine that idea with my emBASEee strategee. A long line corridor for Russia to enjoy a highway, and alongside it American Land from Lend Lease, nice long emBASEees that we can fly antiterrorist missions from for generations. In fact, I would suggest that the entire corridor be American Land.
I had also thought about the Panama Canal Zone, but I am also aware that it smacked of colonialism in the minds of some coutries. It might be better to have your EEMMBBASSIES along the eastern Ukraine borders, but not taint the Crimea Corridor concept with a specific American presence which would reduce wide-spread international support for such an idea. Look at how the voting and abstentions were distributed on the vote to remove Russia from the UN group dealing with treatment of civilians in warfare.
If we had not given up the Panama Canal we never woulda had to go in and militarily take out Noriega. Why should we care that some socialists consider our actions to be “colonial”? They’re NEVER gonna agree with us until we accede their utter dominance over every aspect of our lives.
It is to my reading that the corridor you speak of is precisely what Pootie wants to guard against as that route is a prime invasion route - historically I think.
Why Russia wants to restore the Soviet borders (see the 12.31 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwzliJF0-SI
Russia can’t defend the long border that would include the Ukraine. In spite of large land mass the population isn’t providing enough men 17-36 to fight.
The warm weather port is one thing, but like all things Russian versus Deep State, you have to puzzle together what the reason for things are what they are.
The area of the east Ukraine is very heavily Russian speaking and Russian in culture. That’s why they were bombed by the Ukrainians with Zelensky’s permission and shelled for the last 10 years. Nobody cared...... except Putin. Now that entire area is a desolate, destroyed landscape with unexploded munitions, dead bodies and multiple class 3 biolabs that nobody wants to know about....in public.
Russia has just created a buffer zone of rubble. Our Deep State is going to make bank on arming the Ukrainians and stoking this fire for the next 20-30 years. Wait till Putin says that the poor Russians in Kallingrad Oblast are “threatened” by the Baltic NATO forces. Then it is going to get froggy.
Putin will lose his ass against combined NATO forces with air, comms and weapons... but has in his back pocket tactical nuclear artillery and cruise missiles... low yield, area denial purpose weapons..... we keep poking that bear and poking that bear... he will tell you he has nukes, the Russian people will be told that they are threatened by NATO forces and their sons are being slaughtered by the 10’s of thousands... and “I had to nuke the NATO forces... had to be done.”
The Russian culture is used to loss and pain for the Rodina. They don’t have a lot of snowflakes that get hurt by words except on television shows. They are NOT like western cultures... they won’t worry about popularity polls.. Putin doesn’t give a sh#t what his popularity is. As long as he can kill at will with the backing of the state machinery, he’s the man.... what everyone needs to start doing is looking around and seeing who they think will replace him when he passes on..... that’s when Russia will be very dangerous.
How the heck is Zelensky responsible for permission and shelling for the last 10 years since he only became President recently? It appears you think Putin is likely to use tactical nukes on Kaliningrad, and all the poor Russians who were encouraged to move there in recent years. My grandmother came from that area, and it was predominantly Prussian/German/Polish until after the Soviets got hold of it.
You are right that Soviet and Russian dictators NEED big signs of approval like votes and polls. Decades of years where dictators were elected with votes of more than 90% certainly tell the story. I imagine most Russian “snowflakes” have long ago melted back into the soil of the Rodina. I agree that Putin is happy he can kill at will as he has shown for more than 20 years, but I think his ego also demands approval. Since it appears he may be dying, I certainly hope he does not try to take the world with him, and we certainly need to give a lot of thought and investigation on who is likely to replace him. Unfortuntely, at best it may be one of those greed oligarchs who can be bribed and bought off. At worst, I shudder to think.
Putin also started sending in Russian mercenaries to Donbas area to stir up trouble and give him an excuse to invade.
***I have heard the same thing. I’m having an issue finding links, in particular there was a well written article at American Thinker IIRC.
Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and any drone maker is praying that this continues for the next 10 years.
As for our "experts" in dealing with Russia and Ukraine... please remember that these were the same "experts" that let a bunch of goat humping boy lovers to kill Americans and drain our treasury for 20 years....
We supported the Bin Laden supporters and continued this in Syria, Iraq, Chechnya and Lebanon...
This is all a clown show and you have to realize that ANYTHING that the democrats, RINOs, MSM propaganda and retired flag officers living on the taxpayer trough... say is a great war ... is full of sh#t.
This Ukrainian war is a preview to the coming Moldova and Baltic campaign...
.. and as far as Putin not using nukes... yeah sure... the same experts that said that Putin wouldn't be "crazy" enough" to attack Ukraine are telling us this... so they've been wrong on everything they've caused so far in Eastern Europe.... the blood of Russian, Ukrainian and other innocents are on their hands... Ukraine will look like Beirut and Syria.
But at least our politicians and the corporate parasites will make money off the blood of our sons if they get their way. They are just itching to fight Russia or China...
listen to this and you'll see how complex this situation really is and how this has been festering for 20 years...
https://podcastnotes.org/the-unraveling-podcast-with-jocko-willink-and-darryl-cooper/enough-already-scott-horton-on-the-unraveling-podcast-with-jocko-willink-and-darryl-cooper/
Russian military obviously never play chess. They use pawns or cannon fodder.
He's going to grab as much Ukraine as possible. Kiev will never fall apart. The country will be split into Eastern Ukraine and Western Ukraine.
I have seen occasional TV reports on the fighting in Donbas over the years since 2014, the major TV stations and NPR. I don’t have cable.
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