@Lily O Lady

Of surviving the initial detonation, only to come to the gruesome realization that they cannot supply themselves with enough clean water to survive the aftermath.

war as a remedy for global warming with the added bonus of “decreas[ing] the surplus population.” (E. Scrooge) I still think that they believe their great wealth can protect them from anything, which is madness.

@gjohnsit

The US Psychopaths That Be cannot be trusted, do not keep agreements anyway, and will simply continue to pick off one - or now perhaps multiple - countries at a time until the world of life completely dies, in their sick quest for Total Global Dominance and the micromanagement of everything and everyone on Earth. They will blindly destroy the Earth in their taking of it, believing that they will somehow happily and comfortably exist in some science fiction novel, under a pathological 'philosophy' taken from another novel, because they do not believe in reality. Unless, of course, they are stopped.

Most Americans don't want to live, struggle, sicken and die under fascism anyway; they'd rather have the democracy promised in their Constitution, which they have yet to see fulfilled. In my dreams, the world would try the Psychopaths That Be for their war crimes, lock them all up and let the American people hold free and fair elections with an actual choice of human beings for each public office.

growing trade

With EU sanctions against Russia still in effect, trade between Germany and Russia grew significantly for the first time in five years, according to the German Federal Statistical Office, as cited by local media.
German exports to Russia increased to €25.9 billion ($31.9 billion) in 2017, while imports from the sanctioned state grew to €31.4 billion ($38.7 billion) in the same year. The figures represent a 20.2 percent rise in exports and an 18.7 percent growth in imports, according to the Wiesbaden-based agency.

germany still needs gas

The latest Russia-Ukraine gas dispute has not dampened Germany's enthusiasm to build a new pipeline from Russia.

The pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was a "purely commercial project", Steffen Seibert, chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, said in Berlin on Monday (5 March), according to the Reuters news agency.

@Bollox Ref

Lol, we had a downpour culminating in a foot of snow the other night; hope yours isn't that drastic!

I decided to go ahead and play Kalinnikov's 1st Symphony anyway.

Off to shovel snow later. Oh wait, don't Russians do that too?

@CB And I'm sure the bourgeoisie know this. They simply don't give a shit.

They honestly (and stupidly) believe Pearl Harbor and 9/11 was "war". The ignorant fucks collectively shit their pants when those two relatively minor events took place. Most Americans just stopped shopping for a week or two. Look at the countries the US has destroyed and the millions of innocents that have died after both those events.

US Has Killed More Than 20 Million In 37 Nations Since WWII
...
This study reveals that U.S. military forces were directly responsible for about 10 to 15 million deaths during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the two Iraq Wars. The Korean War also includes Chinese deaths while the Vietnam War also includes fatalities in Cambodia and Laos.

The American public probably is not aware of these numbers and knows even less about the proxy wars for which the United States is also responsible. In the latter wars there were between nine and 14 million deaths in Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sudan.

But the victims are not just from big nations or one part of the world. The remaining deaths were in smaller ones which constitute over half the total number of nations. Virtually all parts of the world have been the target of U.S. intervention.

The overall conclusion reached is that the United States most likely has been responsible since WWII for the deaths of between 20 and 30 million people in wars and conflicts scattered over the world.

To the families and friends of these victims it makes little difference whether the causes were U.S. military action, proxy military forces, the provision of U.S. military supplies or advisors, or other ways, such as economic pressures applied by our nation. They had to make decisions about other things such as finding lost loved ones, whether to become refugees, and how to survive.
...

@CB  
neocon pundits claim the Reagan administration successfully used to bankrupt the Soviet Union — with all the hoopla then surrounding new MX Peacekeeper missiles, futuristic “Star Wars” (fake?) anti-missile defense, etc. etc.

He always follows through with his statements. His actions match his statements. He makes no decisions out of anger or spite. All are coldly calculated to maximize benefit to Russia and it's people. You need look no further than how effectively he has handled Georgia, Ukraine, Crimea and Syria and the sanctions which were to bring Russia to it's knees. Russia has risen to become much, much stronger and more secure under his leadership since the US attempt to gut and dismember his country in the 1990's.

Putin’s State of the Union
...
In his speech Putin revealed the existence of new Russian nuclear weapons that make it indisputably clear that Russia has vast nuclear superiority over the United States and its pathetic NATO vassal states. In view of the Russian capabilities, it is not clear that the US any longer qualifies as a superpower.

There is little doubt in my mind that if the crazed neoconservatives and military/security complex in Washington had these weapons and Russia did not, Washington would launch an attack on Russia.

Putin, however, declared that Russia has no territorial ambitions, no hegemonic ambitions, and no intention to attack any other country. Putin described the weapons as the necessary response to the West’s firm refusal year after year to accept peace and cooperation with Russia, instead surrounding Russia with military bases and ABM systems.

Putin said: “We are interested in normal constructive interaction with the United States and the European Union and are expecting that common sense will prevail and our partners will choose fair and equal cooperation. . . . Our policy will never be based on aspirations for exceptionalism, we are defending our interests and respect the interests of other countries.”

Putin told Washington that its efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions and propaganda and to prevent Russian capability to respond to the growing military encirclement from the West has failed. Russia’s new weapons have made the entire US/NATO approach “ineffective from a military point of view.” “The sanctions to constrain Russia’s development, including in the military sphere… they did not work out.” They have not been been able to contain Russia. They need to realize this… Stop rocking the boat in which we all sit.”
...

Putin knows exactly how the US Deep State will respond to his words. They will use this opportunity to double down on defense spending which will literally suck the life blood from the nation. Putin understands the only thing that can destroy the American Empire without also destroying the entire world is to set up conditions that will cause self-destruction from internal forces. Globally, the US is now at the lowest point in its favorability ratings since Vietnam.

@CB

...Stop rocking the boat in which we all sit.” ...

I cannot think of any better way to phrase the obvious, although I fear your analysis is correct and they will indeed suck the life-blood out of the nation toward their still-planned War On The World, rather than cutting their losses and accepting another failure.

They are already draining the last drops from the American people and the real economy has shriveled with their lack of prosperity, yet they will not admit that they have hit the wall they've swerved into, because there must always be more for those who can never have enough and more victims to shake down somewhere.

But the world is turning to saner, more survivable choices

Edited: computer/mouse is going weird again, comment doubled again when posted, lot of disappearing text trying to write and other weirdness... and this just doubled again, when I right-clicked to copy before posting, as I generally do now... sigh... and just checked, luckily, to remove 13 duplicate comments.

He always follows through with his statements. His actions match his statements. He makes no decisions out of anger or spite. All are coldly calculated to maximize benefit to Russia and it's people. You need look no further than how effectively he has handled Georgia, Ukraine, Crimea and Syria and the sanctions which were to bring Russia to it's knees. Russia has risen to become much, much stronger and more secure under his leadership since the US attempt to gut and dismember his country in the 1990's.

Putin’s State of the Union
...
In his speech Putin revealed the existence of new Russian nuclear weapons that make it indisputably clear that Russia has vast nuclear superiority over the United States and its pathetic NATO vassal states. In view of the Russian capabilities, it is not clear that the US any longer qualifies as a superpower.

There is little doubt in my mind that if the crazed neoconservatives and military/security complex in Washington had these weapons and Russia did not, Washington would launch an attack on Russia.

Putin, however, declared that Russia has no territorial ambitions, no hegemonic ambitions, and no intention to attack any other country. Putin described the weapons as the necessary response to the West’s firm refusal year after year to accept peace and cooperation with Russia, instead surrounding Russia with military bases and ABM systems.

Putin said: “We are interested in normal constructive interaction with the United States and the European Union and are expecting that common sense will prevail and our partners will choose fair and equal cooperation. . . . Our policy will never be based on aspirations for exceptionalism, we are defending our interests and respect the interests of other countries.”

Putin told Washington that its efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions and propaganda and to prevent Russian capability to respond to the growing military encirclement from the West has failed. Russia’s new weapons have made the entire US/NATO approach “ineffective from a military point of view.” “The sanctions to constrain Russia’s development, including in the military sphere… they did not work out.” They have not been been able to contain Russia. They need to realize this… Stop rocking the boat in which we all sit.”
...

Putin knows exactly how the US Deep State will respond to his words. They will use this opportunity to double down on defense spending which will literally suck the life blood from the nation. Putin understands the only thing that can destroy the American Empire without also destroying the entire world is to set up conditions that will cause self-destruction from internal forces. Globally, the US is now at the lowest point in its favorability ratings since Vietnam.

@earthling1
He believes in MAD which makes a first strike by any nation an act of suicide.

Because, what the fuck, they know eventially we will.
Want to stop this?
Find out where our rulers intend to hole up, and destroy their damned bunkers.
Level the playing field so nobody has a place to hide.
Heh heh.