Russia is now bombing Ukraine

[ignatius]

ikea is closing in russia tomorrow so there's a run on ikea stuff and all the stores are slammed apparently

[zero]

28 minutes ago, ignatius said:

ikea is closing in russia tomorrow so there's a run on ikea stuff and all the stores are slammed apparently

retail shopping behavior exhibited by humans the world over never ceases to amaze me. I am just not wired the same way as those that fight over TV's on sale, panic buy, or line up for days to get some new style of food item. like the economy is tanking, maybe we should rethink our spending habits? but no, a deal on some cheap ass bookshelf is just too good to pass up. have no doubt 'mericans would be doing the same thing. 

[zlemflolia]

20 minutes ago, zero said:

retail shopping behavior exhibited by humans the world over never ceases to amaze me. I am just not wired the same way as those that fight over TV's on sale, panic buy, or line up for days to get some new style of food item. like the economy is tanking, maybe we should rethink our spending habits? but no, a deal on some cheap ass bookshelf is just too good to pass up. have no doubt 'mericans would be doing the same thing. 

the entire society under capitalism is built around commodity production by wage labor and commodity consumption by those very same workers.  commodity consumption under capitalism is regarded as one of the only true rights.  it's no surprise that people forced to live under such conditions exhibit this freedom in whatever degree they deem necessary to feel secure in the race to avoid being left behind by capitalism's inhuman and in fact machine qualities.  and in a country where they used to have an equitable socialist system, which was illegally dismantled and converted to brutal capitalism no less, a capitalism which is being made more brutal year by year by US imperialists wishing to privatize all of Russia for themselves

these people feel as if they are under attack, because they are.  their country men, women, and people, are being banned from international competitions, their authors are being banned from universities abroad, they are becoming the targets of hate crimes based on their nationality alone outside.  those within their country are facing steep decreases in the value of the Russian ruble.  their country is being cut off from the global financial system.  the one freedom they have is consuming commodities with the meager wages their jobs give them.  they feel as if even this right is being taken away.  so before that chance is taken away, they feel the need to exercise it

before criticizing the masses of people you should prioritize on instead critiquing the systemic issues causing that behavior to manifest to begin with, it's much more useful, explanatory, and actionable. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ilqx hermolia xpli

[zazen]

So Zelensky produced and starred in a TV show called Servant of the People, here's the first episode (from 2015) with english subtitles. Its actually really well done. Zelesnky plays a teacher who semi-accidentally becomes President after his rant about corruption goes viral.

I'm interested to know at what point he decided to run for President for real. I guess the themes in the TV show inspire him to try it for real. Like, its not just that he was in a show playing the President, like West Wing. He was in a show specifically about political corruption and how a non-career politician would be a good alternative.

 

[Soloman Tump]

Kinda like how Trump started on the Apprentice?

[zero]

47 minutes ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

before criticizing the masses of people you should prioritize on instead critiquing the systemic issues causing that behavior to manifest to begin with, it's much more useful, explanatory, and actionable. 

I don't understand your use of the word actionable here. what does one do to "action" this?

[Nebraska]

 

[ignatius]

1 hour ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

they feel as if even this right is being taken away.

right? "right to consume" is an infection among the other rights. some americans are starting to hoard gas.. again. 

also, regarding being cut off from the world... the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of putin and the circe of oligarchs. we can split hairs about forces of capitalism, the dollar-ification of the petro-economy and how that effects other nations but does all that have anything to do w/putin's dream of gathering up former soviet republics? it's fuckn nostalgia because he's older and not able to cope with his dick not working as well as it used to (yes i watched last night's south park it's fucking funny)

"damn this war.. i was meaning to buy some ikea KOLBJÖRN shelves and STRANDMON chairs.. damn these ukrainian bastards and their nazi president...." 

balance the right to consume vs the right of ukrainians to not be bombed.. for fuck's sake. 

Edited March 4, 2022 by ignatius

[Rubin Farr]

1 hour ago, Soloman Tump said:

Kinda like how Trump started on the Apprentice?

Bob Odenkirk played a similar character in Longshot, I wondered if that was inspired by Zelensky

[ignatius]

14 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

Bob Odenkirk played a similar character in Longshot, I wondered if that was inspired by Zelensky

also, Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus

[Rubin Farr]

 

[Nebraska]

 

[usagi]

1 hour ago, zazen said:

So Zelensky produced and starred in a TV show called Servant of the People, here's the first episode (from 2015) with english subtitles. Its actually really well done. Zelesnky plays a teacher who semi-accidentally becomes President after his rant about corruption goes viral.

I'm interested to know at what point he decided to run for President for real. I guess the themes in the TV show inspire him to try it for real. Like, its not just that he was in a show playing the President, like West Wing. He was in a show specifically about political corruption and how a non-career politician would be a good alternative.

 

(advance warning: this post is not directed at you personally)

frankly, nobody should care about any of this kind of shit right now. there is a lot of very gay hero worship and mythologising going on atm by people who paid no attention to Ukraine or the region until 10 days ago. this is partly because the Ukrainians have been surprisingly good at media ops, but partly because some people only seem to be able to interpret the world through Marvelesque fantasy (literally, some asshole photoshopped Zelensky as an avenger and it was doing the rounds). I doubt this epic euphoria will persist if six months from now Ukrainian cities are starved and besieged under endless shelling Aleppo-style.

I am firmly in support of Ukraine on general principle. and to Zelensky's credit, he doesn't seem to care much about the western world suddenly cooming over him and is simply focused on the grim job at hand. but war is no fucking fairytale. it seems that every time these sorts of conflicts begin, people fail to recognise its underlying nature and get swept up in romantic notions about it early on only to be bitterly disappointed later when things don't turn out as they expected. and they never learn for when the next conflict begins.

[zlemflolia]

2 hours ago, zero said:

I don't understand your use of the word actionable here. what does one do to "action" this?

the same action that any political comprehension implies

1 hour ago, ignatius said:

right? "right to consume" is an infection among the other rights. some americans are starting to hoard gas.. again. 

also, regarding being cut off from the world... the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of putin and the circe of oligarchs. we can split hairs about forces of capitalism, the dollar-ification of the petro-economy and how that effects other nations but does all that have anything to do w/putin's dream of gathering up former soviet republics? it's fuckn nostalgia because he's older and not able to cope with his dick not working as well as it used to (yes i watched last night's south park it's fucking funny)

"damn this war.. i was meaning to buy some ikea KOLBJÖRN shelves and STRANDMON chairs.. damn these ukrainian bastards and their nazi president...." 

balance the right to consume vs the right of ukrainians to not be bombed.. for fuck's sake. 

lol, you completely misread my use of the phrase "right to consume".  i clearly do not propose or endorse "the right to consume under capitalism" after about 2 seconds of thought on my position.  rather under capitalism all positive rights are subsumed under a "right" to consume, if you have the money.  this affects culture and mindset, and it's a bad thing, and in my post is in no way being compared to the rights of ukrainians

Edited March 4, 2022 by ilqx hermolia xpli

[ignatius]

6 minutes ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

lol, you completely misread my use of the phrase "right to consume".  i clearly do not propose or endorse "the right to consume under capitalism" after about 2 seconds of thought on my position.  rather under capitalism all positive rights are subsumed under a "right" to consume, if you have the money.  this affects culture and mindset, and it's a bad thing, and in my post is in no way being compared to the rights of ukrainians

i knew it was "phrasing" and though tit odd to be put that way so had to call it out. 

also, i don't know why you'd make any of those points if they're not being compared to the rights of ukrainians which is really all that's relevant here. 

regardless, seems like the russians are about to make a chernobyl 2.0 times 10 and the fun will really start with embroiling other nations in this 

[ignatius]

1 hour ago, Nebraska said:

 

in that twitter thread there's some informative replies. apparently that power plant is a better design. has seismic sensors. so if it's being shelled it should auto shutdown if the sensors are triggered. one person said the result could be more like fukushima than chernobyl. a difference i guess but not sure how much of a better scenario it would be. seems shit regardless but until a nuclear physicist chimes in or russia backs off the shelling ... ugh. meh . fuck. 

[zero]

53 minutes ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

the same action that any political comprehension implies

this is totally vague, and on purpose. whatever shit you keep preaching on here will always fall apart, because you can't explain anything in simple terms that you supposedly fight for. there are holes all over your belief system, man.

[zlemflolia]

5 minutes ago, zero said:

this is totally vague, and on purpose. whatever shit you keep preaching on here will always fall apart, because you can't explain anything in simple terms that you supposedly fight for. there are holes all over your belief system, man.

what is it you think my beliefs are? interesting, my posts are "preaching" even though they are direct responses to the "holes" within you post.  but you ignored my entire post except one sentence you liked

[ignatius]

whoa. capitalism can suck it. we know this. doesn't have to wade in and become the focus of every conversation. i mean.. that's just a really capitalist thing to do. it's colonialism at the forum level. 

anyway.. back on topic. here's a video feed w/updates of the attack relevant to the nuclear power plant. 

 

[zero]

6 minutes ago, ilqx hermolia xpli said:

what is it you think my beliefs are?

brother, I think if you were to ask the 50-100 or so peeps that frequent this board daily who the biggest supporter of cmunism is on here is - they would no doubt point to the person behind the Zeff/hermolia username. I am rolling with the assumption that you are always on team comunism, because of your past posts on this site. 

it is all good tho, because this really isn't worth arguing over on a message board. goes round and round and in the end, same ol shit...

[thefxbip]

Jesus, they bombed a nuclear plant?

 

[ignatius]

18 minutes ago, thefxbip said:

Jesus, they bombed a nuclear plant?

 

 

[thefxbip]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-everything-you-need-to-know

Is there a radiation threat?

Ukrainian authorities on Friday morning said the facility was secured and “nuclear safety is now guaranteed”.

Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the Ukraine regulator told the agency that there was “no change reported in radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant site”.

The US also said their latest information showed no indication of elevated radiation levels at the plant. The US energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said the reactors “are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down”.

Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, 100km north of Kyiv. Some analysts noted the Zaporizhzhia plant is of a different and safer type to Chernobyl, which was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.

The chances of explosion, nuclear meltdown or radioactive release are low, said Tony Irwin, an honorary associate professor at the Australian National University.

Irwin, who operated nuclear power plants in the UK for three decades, is a former manager of the open-pool Australian lightwater (OPAL) reactor, Australia’s only nuclear reactor.

He said the PWR reactors are “a lot safer” than the reactors at Chernobyl, and did not appear to be damaged yet. The reactors have large concrete contaminants and built-in fire protection systems, he said, adding:

“Obviously, it’s not a good idea if you start shooting massive missiles at reactors,” he said. “The PWR [pressurised water reactor] type is a much safer sort of reactor, because it’s a two-circuit design reactor. The water that keeps the reactor cool is on a separate circuit to the second one, which actually supplies the power to the turbine and the outside.”

“These reactors have back-up emergency cooling systems as well. In addition to the normal reactor cooling, they got a passive system, they’ve got high pressure injection systems, they’ve got low-pressure injection systems.”

Edited March 4, 2022 by thefxbip

[Rubin Farr]

Didn’t the Soviets upgrade all their reactors after Chernobyl?

[ambermonk]

Someone should tell Putin to go kiss the Elephant's Foot