there are no faces

"Contains detailed instructions on how to beg for mercy in Russian, Persian, Chinese and Corporatespeak"

@JsonBoa one of the few really sharp comments I received.

When I opened the newspaper this morning I couldn't help but picture Biden, Johnson and Putin having a lightsaber fight using their cocks. 🤷

Strange times we live in. Or very similar times to all the times this exact thing happened already.

@bittersweet Neither Johnson (ha!) nor Biden are “up” to that task. Putin and Xi have them both right where they want them. Weak and impotent. Learn Russian and Chinese. This is their world now.

@stackodev only learn Chinese. Russia’s going down (I’m Russian)

@kiki Interesting. I’m genuinely interested in knowing why you think that. From where I sit, so much of the world yearns incomprehensibly for the Soviet Union to return and “finally” destroy capitalism and America and create a worldwide communist order. I see nothing but success for Putin in achieving their dream. With the help of China and Iran, of course.

@stackodev I don't see how china and Russia would join forces sure they have some understanding however they are competitors on the global scene

@matt-jd @kiki @stackodev

Russia has an enormous issue -- They chose the wrong talent tree. After WW2, they chose steel, oil, coal, chemicals, wood and paper as their profession, and they forgot to reconsider when the cold war ended.

In terms of economical strategy, Russia still lives in the 80s.

Of course they have modernized agriculture and built an impressive tech sector, and have had domestic successes with that. It's not like their society still lives in the 80s, but in terms of *global* economics, they're not really a world power anymore.

Putin knows this, and the Russian population is feeling it.

They do hold Europe by the balls regarding gas. The Syrian war was also a brilliant move to cut off the EU from planned gas pipelines from the Emirates.That's why the US is shipping in expensive LNG.

We (EU) fucked up regarding energy.

But still -- Russia is acting like a panicked wounded animal rather than a dominant force.

A wounded animal, with nukes.

@matt-jd @kiki @stackodev

Also, I don't think that (apart from total annihilation), any major state will "take" another.

The NATO countries will stay "English", Russia will stay "Russian", China will stay "Chinese".

The risks for any of them to full-on conquer each other is too large.

Of course there could be NATO soldiers engaging Russian soldiers, ships sinking, planes being shot down, even missiles/bombs being thrown at civilian targets -- But forceful occupation is a different beast.

It pretty much always backfires, even at the small scale.

Half the world tried to keep Afghanistan forcefully occupied for two decades.

It just turns into a black hole you keep throwing money and dead bodies into, until the Taliban pops up again after 2 decades like a prank birthday candle which can't be extinguished.

Regardless of all the strong talk -- Neither Russia nor China could not take the EU. And NATO would never be able to control Russia either.

What's all this now?