What are you: some sort of Jesus freak? Turn the other cheek to this, pal! :laughing:

I just can't get over norg's inability or determination not to understand the idea of defending your country against an aggressor not being possible to be characterised as an attack. :rolleyes:

Well, like you guys always say, it's norg.

More like rong, amiright?

I have a very close friend of mine who is slowly going off the deep end conspiracy theory wise and last night he told me all the videos of the dead children in Bucha were crisis actors.

He was serious. I didn't know how to respond so I changed the subject.

Is falling down a right or left wing conspiracy hole? There seems to be a ****ed up convergence of right wingers who like Putin as an anti-woke strongman and faux lefties who can't let go of the USSR and support Russia as... a check to American imperialism or something?

I was pretty surprised when I read that Putin's approval levels in Russia have risen since the start of the invasion. Then I started reading about the propaganda machine. It's really fascinating how important strong propaganda is in any war. The same thing happened during the Balkan wars. We had no idea what the real situation was until long after the war ended, there was only one version of events available. I suppose the same thing is happening on the Ukrainian side now, I read reports which sound like obvious exaggerations, and of course, there are no negative reports filtering through into the West, which also isn't credible in a war situation. We'll find out the real extent of the horror show some time after it all ends. The problem is that each side will stick to their story.

There is also the fear in Russia that your real personal opinion could get you killed so I'm not sure the approval ratings for Putin are all that accurate

There's a great Sontag quote circulating apropos of just that

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPcuXViX...jpg&name=small