My experience, including in Paris, was similar. Everyone was very reasonable when it came to politeness.
So what you’re telling me is, you don’t understand the Parisians?
;-)
(Disclaimer: People not familiar with musicals from our parents’/grandparents’ generation will probably not get the allusion.)
Another song from the same musical! As you’re no doubt aware, the still shows Leslie Caron* right before she sings the song whose first line is “I don’t understand the Parisians.”
*they don’t make them like her anymore.
Ah yes… I remember it well.
(Actually I don’t remember that scene very well. The numbers that are strongest in my memory are the two I referenced, and of course Thank Heaven for Little Girls…)
All awesome songs. Also “I’m Glad I’m not Young Anymore.” Chevalier at his most charming (although I gather his onscreen persona belied his actual personality).
Russian authorities have captured the third group of hackers Biden asked for.
I guess they’d need to double down on hostile rhetorics in case someone tries to judge them by the actions instead of words and sees readiness to serve.
I really appreciate the perspective you bring to this, @alekseivolchok, but if we’re judging actions and not words, what about the action of rolling the entire army up to the border of Ukraine? IMHO that outweighs catching some criminals (which, don’t get me wrong, is laudable and should be lauded).
For my money it’s still just sabre rattling, cheap talk. And by the way they are also doing the same near Kurils. Madman theory. Americans leaving a possibility of stationing American troops in Ukraine is not that different.
Modern Russia could only ever afford quick surprise attacks with no real opposition. Putin’s rating has just only recovered above 30% threshold. If this is all really a preparation for full-scale total war then this twist will be harder to swallow than any Tom Clancy story.
Timex
1969
I feel like this is very different.
Both actions are predicated on the possibility that Russia is going to do some bad shit, namely, invade the Ukraine. Russia is massing forces for that purpose. The US is stationing forces to prevent that.
For all the shouting from Russia, I don’t think Russia or anyone in the entire world thinks that NATO is going to… invade Russia, right? I mean, we all agree there’s ZERO chance of that, right?
This is 100% about Putin not wanting former Soviet Bloc states to fully join the western world, because it may threaten his power base in Russia if the Russian population starts saying, “Hey, the west and democracy is looking pretty good… why are are living in this fucked up autocracy again?”
I hope you are right. But I would quibble with the “cheap” part, only in that it costs real money to move troops around. (Granted, not nearly as much money as actually warring with those troops.) And I think the very same (“cheap talk”) could be said about rounding up hackers and other malcontents at the US’s request.
This is my understanding, as well. Some folks think it’s not it worth it to Putin to actually invade to prevent this from happening, other people think it is. In either case, it is part of Putin’s strategy to keep us all guessing about whether he thinks the cost is too high. And I think playing the other side–by which I mean doing “cooperative” stuff like arresting hackers–is part of the same strategy.
Umm… No? There isn’t much point in it cause Russia mostly behaves like an obedient Western colony. But NATO forces would have a much easier time inflicting damage on Russia with little fear of retaliation.
Those are some real people arrested and investigated. Russia moving their troops over their territory (which, might I remind you all, happens every year and there is no mobilization) does not seem like a real action to me. All I see is rhetorics that for some reason are more widely circulated in Western media today than several years ago.
Timex
1972
Have NATO forces ever attacked Russia? Is there really any reasonable expectation that they would?
In contrast, Russia has actually invaded other nations and essentially just absorbed them in recent history.
It seems like the fear that NATO will attack Russia is contrived, while the fear that Russia will invade its neighbors is not.
Wow, I think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree here. From Putin’s perspective, rounding up some criminals is practically nothing, unless they have some kind of connection to him. (Though it’s certainly a big deal to them, no doubt.) Moving Russia’s entire military (or at least most of it) is a huge deal, both in terms of money, international reaction, and the effect it’s going to have on the troops and their families, and you know, the mental state of the Ukrainian people. I mean, like Timex said, remember that time they invaded Crimea?
First, they moved 1/8 of the Russian army, not “most” of it. Last I’ve checked people talked about something like 100 thousand people on the Ukrainian border while the Russian army (non-mobilized) is 800 thousand people. Also a lot of those people were already there cause it’s the most alarming border for Russia.
Second, they never “invaded” Crimea. There were a lot of military men there already cause Russia owned naval bases there. Some special forces dudes got there and persuaded the local government to flip. It was an opportunistic move during a period of instability, similar to Georgian war, not a calculated prepared invasion.
I don’t get this point. Russian forces never attacked NATO. NATO has invaded other nations and established new regimes there.
“most alarming” is a laughable characterisation.
Timex
1976
No, but Russia has actually TAKEN OVER portions of the Ukraine already. They invaded Georgia. Neither of these invasions served any greater purpose beyond punishing those countries for wanting to be closer with the west. They had taken no offensive actions towards anyone.
We talking about Iraq and Afghanistan here? You think that the US and allied actions in those countries were equivalent to Russia’s actions in the Ukraine and Georgia?
I mean, we didn’t take over Iraq and make it into Far-East-Dakota. As far as I’m aware, the Ukraine wasn’t attacking neighboring countries and slaughtering its own people like Saddam Hussein, right?
Is there really a serious thought that NATO is going to invade Russia, if left to its own devices?
I mean, sure, if Russia keeps invading other countries, then something is probably gonna need to be done about it. But if Russia just… stopped invading everyone? I’m pretty sure the entire Western world would be cool with that. No one really wants to take over Russia.
Again, I think that the ultimate driving force here is that Putin is afraid of his own people. This is kind of a replay of what we saw with the Soviet Union.
Russia has invaded its neighbours regularly and that has never really changed. Why now all of a sudden “it’s just sabre rattling” and we shouldn’t worry…
I still don’t get this argument. We talked about Russia having no reason to fear of NATO invasion and switched to talking about how NATO invasions are good and justified and are morally superior to Russian ones. I don’t think Putin would like justified invasion and justified fate similar to Gaddafi or Hussein any more than if it’s unjustified.
Cool defence of kleptocrats. They’re afraid of being overthrown!! Okayyyyyyyy….
