(09-07-2020, 02:57 AM)Snarl Wrote: Personal to @"Ninurta": I've always admired the Russians ... even 'liked' some of 'em. But, their heads of state are not allied with our heads of state. I've been in one legitimate gunfight and it was with a Russian down in Panama (typing away with a smile on my face).
I have another friend who was SpecOps and ran some operations into Nicargua during the Contra Wars, which was after my time there. He got some Russians all manner of dusty and dirt faced then. In later years, he actually married a Russian girl, and has set up a community on some land he owns for a group of Russian "Messianic Jews" and provides them with a safe and secure place to live.
I reckon this old world takes all kinds.
it's true their heads of state are not allied with ours, which is exactly what I'm getting at - why aren't they? We have a common foe in the CCP. Our spheres of influence are not - or at least should not be - the same, although there may be a degree of overlap. There is currently no reason I can think of for belligerence between us. We should leave their satellite nations alone, insist they leave ours alone, and make some serious overtures to address the CCP problem.
Instead, what is going to happen is war in the US, and I'm nearly certain the Right will get resupply from the Russians, since those ideologies currently align whereas Russia is well aware of the source of US belligerence from the Left, which is currently more aligned with the CCP communists, and are now Russian foes. Therefore, the US Left can expect resupply from the CCP. China has some awesome smuggling routes into the US already in place - you'll just have to take my word for that, or not, as I'm not about to give up my evidence or reveal any sources. I don't know that the Russians can compete with them yet... but if they need help setting some up after the balloon goes up, I'll be available, and have some experience.
It will be weird. Back in the day, I smuggled materiel to combat the Russian communists, not materiel FROM the Russians to combat US Fifth Columnists.
Still, smuggling is smuggling, and I'm game if they are. It's not like I have a whole lot of years left to spend in prison if I get caught (more likely a summary execution since it would be working against the Marxists, and that's just how they roll), and I'd probably be of more use in that role these days than as a combatant.
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Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’