Jimmy Higgins
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- Joined
- Jan 31, 2001
- Messages
- 49,905
- Basic Beliefs
- Calvinistic Atheist
It is possible, but I see an organic drift in the shift of his position.
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Features
How should west respond to potential (likely) Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- Thread starter Harry Bosch
- Start date
Elixir
Made in America
That is their patriotic duty, I believe.
Good thing you brought your A-game today. Anything less and it would look like you know your mission has failed and you've decided to stay as long as you get paid.
It must be glum on your end.
While some people make their living by acting like a fool, no one likes being thought a fool. Lying takes a certain amount of cleverness, even if at the moment lying is a foolish thing to do. The liar will constantly edit the message to evade looking foolish.
TV and credit cards
Contributor
I've long since figured being part of a Russian web brigade was just a little something to supplement whatever pension he might be getting. He puts in his required number of posts, supervisor pencil whips his monthly report, everyone gets paid and everyone is effectively ineffective.
After the world (and Putin) got to witness what sad shape Russia's military and supporting government agencies actually were in, I have every reason to believe every other aspect of the Russian government is operating in the same way: do the bare minimum to stay out of trouble, don't bring attention upon yourself, get paid.
If true, I can't really fault the guy.
In another life, I worked on cars. Most of that was in dealership service departments. Our biggest customer, a little more than about a third of the work, was the manufacturer who paid for all warranty repairs. This led to a fairly mild form of corruption known as "flat rating". This basically means charging the manufacturer for work that wasn't actually done, of claiming a more expensive repair was needed. Flat rating is always going to happen and a good manager keeps it to a minimum. It's the kind of thing that can't be throttled. It's either squeezed tight, or it's wide open. One sign of an incompetent manager is using it as a bonus system, which is to say, reward a mechanic with a couple extra hours labor that came from a pen. In such a shop, the manager has no control over the crew and they have a lot more time than he does. Flat rating is easier than working, more lucrative and takes very little skill. The manufacturer is not stupid. They have nation wide statistics on repairs and a flat rating shop stands out. They have the power to take back the money, which gets the attention of the dealership owner, who solves the problem by firing the manager.
When Russia tried to transition from a controlled economy to a capitalist system, they chose the flat rating shop model. When the boss is stealing to pad his income, there is no way to prevent the employees from doing the same. This applies to private business and the military. It starts at the top and goes all the way down. The result is industry that can't produce and an army that can't fight. They don't have the equipment or the skills.
Harry Bosch
Contributor
Well, it's easy for him to be pro-war. He doesn't have to fight in it, nor does he have kids that have to serve. If we forced all war mongers into serving, we'd have far less wars.
barbos
Contributor
I am long way to pension. So I am paid extremely large salary to post on this very popular and influential forum. You would not believe how much I am paid
barbos
Contributor
OK, cool, did NATO secretary lie when he said "Russia produce more 4 times more weapons than the whole West"
barbos
Contributor
And this is while US are trying to get retirees to go back to work and make these "stingers"
Yeah, right.
You are projecting.
Case in point this latest ukro-propaganda fiasco with Aeroflot hack. So much peremoga in the beginning - Aeroflot is destroyed, it will take years to restore its IT infrastructure...... Welll few hours later - Aeroflot works as usual. Apparently these stupid and incompetent russians did have actual backups of everything.
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barbos
Contributor
And yes, I view your inability to counter my arguments with anything other than "Russian propaganda" as admission of defeat.
I was not born yesterday and I can read people very very well.
I was not born yesterday and I can read people very very well.
barbos
Contributor
You want to send Graham to Ukraine to fight Russians?
So where is it? Russia is buying artillery shells from North Korea and tactical golf carts from China and you expect anyone to believe Russia can produce weapons? Russia is militarily bankrupt. Putin sent a poorly trained and poorly equipped army into Ukraine because that's all he had to show for after 20 years of stealing from the Russian people.
I have to give you credit for persistence, but no one believes anything you say.
barbos
Contributor
barbos
Contributor
Nobody in Russia believes anything your governments and media say.
barbos
Contributor
Elensky's days are numbered
barbos
Contributor
TV and credit cards
Contributor
In continuing to defend such an indefensible position, I think he went from persistence to irrationality many months ago. The only alternative I see is there is some incentive for him to continue on with this charade. In this, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
His strongest argument to date (from what I've read) is the West hasn't bent over backwards for us.
barbos
Contributor
Your position is indefensible, not mine. Mine is well defended by decent human beings all over the world including the West
It doesn't matter what people in Russia believe. They have no power or influence over their own lives.