I’ve learned to roll with punches. Virtually all American movies portray Russians as evil. It could be worse. Imagine being Japanese and having to watch Godzilla destroy Tokyo again and again.
Reality isn't entertaining. People seldom line up outside of theaters to see documentaries. Historical events that are later adapted for feature films didn't play out in three act structure.
My wife and actually enjoy movies and TV series that are based on real events. We’re watching A Friend of the Family at present. Of course there are nips and tucks and adaptations. But the ‘realer’ the better.
The neocons better tighten up. Whether 200 or 600, that’s in the range of Ukrainian troops that are dying every day in Bakhmut.
I would think if you could get within visual range (close enough for a dogfight) of a 5th generation fighter with a highly maneuverable older jet fighter, you probably would have at least a slight advantage. The newest fighter jets probably were not made for dogfighting. And it would be hard to say if Russia's 5th generation jet fighters are any good--they certainly do not own the skies over Ukraine.
Are you supposed to be talking to me ? No, the Russian Air Force does not rule sky over all of Ukraine. But as I’ve already postulated, the era of dogfighting (and naval battles) are drawing to and end. Henceforth, wars are likely to be fought the way this one is being fought, with drones, missiles, mortars, artillery and rifles.
You wouldn’t agree with ukrainian sources if they agreed with me. Zaluzhny says Russia has destroyed his army and that if he doesn’t get a new one the war is lost.
Amazing how movies since WWII portrayed the Nazis as bad. It's almost as if . . . the Nazis did bad things. (And they did.) Guess what? The Russians also do bad things. Starting wars, committing war crimes, opening torture centers, employing prisoners as soldiers, targeting women for rape & children for kidnapping, etc. Why does it surprise you that Russia is (accurately and routinely) portrayed as evil? No doubt that all Russians are not evil, but their leadership in the last century (with the exception of Gorbachev, who you probably despise) tended towards evil, with Stalin and Putin being perfect examples. Maybe you have a different definition of evil that allows for torture centers, rapes, and other atrocities as normal behaviors. Or maybe you have "nuanced" explanations that dance their way around the truth, or point to rare actions by disturbed individuals within the U.S. population that are just as bad.
And by lucky pilots coming out of canyons with guns blazing on unsuspecting Russian fighter jets! Just because something is likely, does not mean it will happen in all cases. Just like Pearl Harbor and Doolittle's raid were both unlikely. Yet they both happened.
History is written by the victors. Corollary: and the victors get to determine the depth of depravity of the losers. Which of course doesn’t explain why we made the Russians our allies and then turned them into enemies. And speaking of countries that do bad things ... Overthrowing other people’s governments: The Master List – William Blum
Oddly, that was the motif in the movie. It’s probably impossible. But if we hold on, grit our teeth - and remember the black jets are the bad guys - airframes designed not to exceed 8 G’s can handle 10.5 AND we won’t pass out.
The far right in Israel is going to upend everything. Do they suspect Ukraine of being nazified with its Jewish leader?
Rule of thumb: there are no Nazis in Ukraine. However, they would have been Nazis if they were marching, with tiki torches, in Charlottesville, VA when Trump was President.
‘There are no moral rules’: Russia’s treatment of female PoWs shows a systemic pattern of abuse Rehab session for Ukrainian women recently freed, including civilians and military personnel captured in Mariupol siege, details “system of terror.” The women say they were regularly beaten with fists and bats. They were stripped, mocked, photographed and left naked. Most were starved, tortured, electrically shocked, kept awake for days and sexually humiliated. Some were raped. Others won’t say. Many tell therapists that they do not know how they survived. A prisoner who had been a military official remembers the screams of people burning alive in the bombing of Mariupol’s maternity hospital on March 9 and the horrors of defending the steel factory as the city was reduced to a smoking ruin. But it is the associative memories of her time in prison — a creak that sounds like the cell door opening — that trigger her tears and her terror of being alone. She remembers freezing temperatures, lack of food, verbal insults, beatings and “constant” electric shocks. “We see sadistic, systematic behaviour,” says the program’s lead psychologist. “It is a system of terror. There are no moral rules.”
