AngloSaxonIvan

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@StrategyBattles Ok. Hopefully you'll put the same comment on Intuit's site, where it'll make more of an impact.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

You may have noticed that the war in Iran impacts us all, Carlos, so I've every right to comment, as you would have if the boot were on the other foot. And your final comment just betrays where you get your news from, as there's no chance that's ever going to happen - except in the minds of racist nut jobs on X.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

On the basis that you first commented positively on Intuit's post about progress being made by Ukraine on the battlefield. And then posted that Zelensky must go, massive unreported Ukrainian casualties, and the country was being wrecked. The two stances seem incompatible, hence the charge you're seeking to monetise "both sides".

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@UKikaski Ok. Ignore my previous comment. I understand what Strategy Battles is doing.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@UKikaski @StrategyBattles Don't you think it strange that Strategy Battles posted a positive comment earlier, asked you about the maps you'd shown of Ukrainian advances, and acknowledged your help. Then posts this negative comment?

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

Superb. And yes: no explicit evidence of corruption. But boy, oh boy, is this a conflict of interest on a grand scale. And I say that from the perspective of many years spent observing and documenting the "revolving door" between senior people in the departments and ministries of central government (civil servants and ex government ministers) and the private sector in the UK. That door has always revolved particularly quickly in defence, but also IT (which was my focus), and now all kinds of services - due to the endless cycles of privatisation and outsourcing that successive governments have followed since the 1980s. And its oversight, by a body called the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) was always lax and heavily criticised (and has now been abolished to be replaced by something that's supposed to be tougher).
Interestingly, ACOBA's operation was always at its most "flexible" (i.e. useless) when we had governments - and particularly prime ministers - who were also lax about "standards in public life" - one of whom was a great fan of Donald J Trump.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@blackbirchdrive @danpfeiffer @atrupar According to Grok the highest inflation got under Biden was 9.1% in June 2012 (after the covid pandemic) it then fell every month to between 2-3% by the end of Biden's term.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@JayinKyiv Correction. The last line should have read '...turns out THAT Ukraine...'

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

This is what happens when you've been brought up your whole life to believe that Russia had the "second army in the world" (after the US, obviously), and it turns out that was utter bollocks. Worse still, that your "great and mighty military" weren't being defeated by a super power, like the US, or China, but by a country and a people you'd been taught to believe were inferior to Russians. And then it turns out the Ukraine and Ukrainians are the superior ones. Jesus! That's some major head fuck for a Russian.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

GO FOR IT UKRAINE! Make the most of this opportunity, and in the process show the Russian people that Putin couldn't give a flying fuck about them. Not that that will make any difference. They've become a pathetic shadow of the people who had the courage to overthrow the czarist regime and free themselves from serfdom. Putin is taking them back there and they do nothing.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

Regardless of whatever excuses or reasons I hear, I will never be able to accept the argument that other European countries (so avoiding the NATO catch) could not have come to Ukraine's aid from the outset of the war by implementing a no fly zone. And after the last 18 months (since Trump became president) of massively increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure - and the horrendous and heartbreaking videos of the resulting carnage - I find those excuses and arguments even more pathetic, and cowardly in the extreme.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

Too revolting to watch more than the first minute. I wonder how many fathers with a one year old female child would talk about how long and beautiful her legs are going to be, or how big her breasts will be (complete with hand movements to demonstrate), and all that with a smirk on their face. But that's Donald J Trump. No wonder he was best mates with Epstein.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

Thanks for taking the time on this one, Chris. I realised when I asked again that you almost certainly have other fish to fry, as it's increasingly hard to keep up with developments with Iran, without factoring in Ukraine. Anyway, very well put, and it certainly convinces me. Trump's transactional - that's absolutely clear - but I think putting it in stages, as you do here, is extremely insightful and makes anticipating and understanding his actions - and thus, those the US (might) take, much easier.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

Thanks for both replies. I guessed the "intuit", so I'm pleased I got that right. Agree on the point about criticism of the withdrawing of intel and then the same people not now giving credit where it's due.
But that brings me back to the question I was asking in my original comment: given the level of Trump's animosity toward Zelensky (which you've acknowledged many times in your analyses), are we to believe that Trump is aware of what appears to be "turn" toward supporting Ukraine? You give the specific examples of "permission" to target refineries, as well as the recent supply of specialised ordnance, both of which are significant. That's quite and change, which is what led me to ask your view.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@Wodun001 @UKikaski Oh dear. Insults and nothing much else. And reference to a tired old adage that is dubious in the extreme. That's a clear sign of brain rot. So no point in engaging further. Cheers.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@Wodun001 @UKikaski Two comments on May 3, Wodun, where in one you called me "uneducated on the matter", and were equally dismissive in the other. For the record, I've followed US politics for decades as I was a political scientist as an academic, so it fell within my remit.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@Wodun001 @UKikaski To employ your previous approach to commenting on my comments, I'll simply say, "They would, wouldn't they.". Cheers.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

@ChrisO_wiki @mszinck Crikey!! You had me worried when I read that: first the Strait of Hormuz induced fuel crisis and now another wave of Covid - almost certainly a new variant. Have the Chinese learnt nothing!? Then I realised. Sarcasm 🙂

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

What an absolutely excellent sight - though not excellent enough to offset the appalling pictures of the latest Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians, homes and so on, that I've seen today. Personally, I wish the Ukrainians would give Russian civilians a taste of their own medicine - because Putin would be gone by now if they did - but I understand why Ukraine resists going into the gutter to hell that Russians inhabit.

[AngloSaxonIvan @HorrocksIvan1]

I suppose if one wanted to be controversial one could claim that Winston Churchill did a pretty good job of "failing upwards". He was responsible for Gallipoli in WW1 and the Norwegian Campaign in 1940 - both of which were pretty disastrous (and both when he was First Lord of the Admiralty, although at two different times). But he subsequently became the UK's war time Prime Minister, for which he's rightly regarded highly, and remembered.