The examples you're citing involve domestic perceptions without the added variable of an impending attack from a foreign country, which is the sort of thing that tends to make people pay attention to what their local politicians are saying, and transcends the usual, pedestrian criticisms of politicians not delivering on their policy platforms. As for Klitschko, there is a recent poll that suggests he is more trusted than Zelinsky in the capital of Kiev.
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
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The examples you're citing involve domestic perceptions without the added variable of an impending attack from a foreign country, which is the sort of thing that tends to make people pay attention to what their local politicians are saying, and transcends the usual, pedestrian criticisms of politicians not delivering on their policy platforms. As for Klitschko, there is a recent poll that suggests he is more trusted than Zelinsky in the capital of Kiev.
Who says independent nations can't choose to join NATO? Oh yes, it's Russia.
I don’t know how he’s rated as a politician but both him and his brother have PhDs in sports science. Their nicknames in boxing were Dr Steel Hammer and Dr Iron Fist because of this.
He's not the worst out of ex-sportsmen/showmen that went into politics, I guess, but he's approaching the meme-worthy category. To be fair he's working on himself, but some of his earlier speeches didn't even make sense in the most literal sense of this saying.
I know that it's pointless if you don't speak Russian, but I'll still link his best one with a word-to-word English translation without trying to make it make sense
Almost every notable sportsmen in ex-Soviet states has one. It doesn't say anything about him, only about the system (that stayed the same from the Soviet times) — someone writes a paper for them and they get a degree on the basis of their sporting career. Think of the US college sports scholarship and then double the scale.
Interesting.
I don't think him having an educational qualification is in any way indicative of him not being smart. I mean, the current President there is literally a comedian and his predecessor ran a chocolate factory.
Don't you also have the Master of Sport thingy?
Thats Wilo Wonkenko for you.Willy Wonka was president?
Oh, I don't say that he's not smart based on him having a bogus degree. I say that based on, well, his public appearances, speeches and everything else that he's done at the job so far. He didn't get where he did by being smart, he did it by getting repeatedly hit in the head. A comedian needs wits as well as a lot of organisational experience if he's not only a comedian but a producer as well. Running a factory, at least successfully, requires a lot of intelligence.
I'm really not sure that it's a hill that you'll want to die on. Him being trusted more than Zelinsky, the argument that you've used earlier, also doesn't tell us much about his intelligence:
- Zelinsky's ratings are tragic at the moment and, second of all
- Klitschko is very popular because of his sports career
- while he's not smart, people are not questioning his allegiances or looking for some hidden motives — so in this particular case not having a reputation of a renown public intellectual actually works in his favour
I think, the way you've framed it is if I'm reading between the lines correctly: He's not the smartest or most media savvy cookie in the book, but he's honest and hard working, and is improving himself and becoming more popular for it.
The way I see it, if he's smart enough and self aware enough to work on himself and pull back from being a meme, he's better than most politicians. Or would this be an unfair assessment?
Yeah, but that's a separate thing and this is something that they get, well, legitimately.
I googled the first name that I thought of — in case you wanted an example. Fedor Emelianenko has received his degree (it's not technically a PhD and neither is Klitschko's, the system here is a bit different, but it's close enough) for the work that's called "Spiritual and moral determinants in the MMA fighters' training regime".
Yeah, more or less.
Anyway, I think I've railed the thread far enough off-topic, so that's the last that I'm going to say on the matter. It's a good sign that we are discussing something else though.
For what its worth I liked Klitschko's reaction to Germany sending helmets to Ukraine. With that said though not sure why he's wasting his time on Fox News although I suppose it's good to have a counterpoint to the pro-Putin propaganda coming from Tucker land these days.
Unsure if irony is the right word, but it's certainly something that Norway and Turkey have sent the only significant systems that Russia might actually fear. For all the 'release of US arms talk' they've got nothing great from Europe.
For what it's worth, every person in Russia I've spoken to thinks there won't be an invasion of Ukraine, wouldn't support an invasion, and they are military exercises to annoy the US.
That the Western media is scaremongering and this is all no big deal. Not sure if that lines up with how @harms thinks or the people he talks to think.
That the Western media is scaremongering and this is all no big deal. Not sure if that lines up with how @harms thinks or the people he talks to think.
That opinion will shift massively if there is an "attack " on the pro Russian separatists.
I think that would be more of a casus belli for the world. Internally most Russians wouldn’t give a feck. They supported Crimea but you sense that’s about their limit. In a Levada poll, only 29% supported annexing Donbass, though only 14% said it should be part of Ukraine. They have other worries, and most know at least some people in the army. The economic worries are foremost.
I've heard that as well that Russians think nothing will happen and it's just Putin winding the West up and seeing what they'd do
Even if he actually did want to invade, I don't think he would now. Surely the element of surprise is what he wanted, now it's just even harder
It's may be a bit of a case of if we ignore it, it will go away... and the only one who really knows whenever it's going to happen or not is Putin (and even he probably doesn't at this point). From time to time we get some new info that sparkles the debate and then it goes back to relative normality.
There are certainly no zealous invasive attitudes in general population though. The supposed threat from NATO isn't affecting people's daily life while the potential war will — and it already does, considering how our economy had reacted to all those tensions of the past few months.
I don't think in this day and age one can really have an element of surprise in the traditional sense. As in, can we invade them without them seeing it coming.
I think I've seen Michael Kofman, an expert on Russian military, claim that precisely because of that notion, the Russians try a different style of suspense. They'll create a big buildup, shift and move troops and armor here and there, to keep you guessing which specific units will attack. So in other words: the Russians know that you know they'll might attack, but now you have to figure out which specific units or battalions at which location of the encirclement will start it off.
Interesting. Is it a case as well that they may be trying to provoke NATO into the first move (military or sanctions) to justify anything
No, not NATO. Ukraine, maybe yes. That's the false flag scenario.
It is all about Crimea. Now we know. Recognize Crimea as Russian and get them to get out of Donbass and sort this mess out. NATO and the Baltic States etc is all about negotiating.
This whole idea that NATO would ever want to invade Russia has always been unbelievable to me. Countries that benefit from the current status quo (i.e. the US), with all the good weather and beaches to boot have no need or desire to spend blood and treasure invading a frozen hell. It's a disinformation/propaganda campaign that Putin is trying to pull off but when you just look at the basic facts, it's a laughable premise.
There is no "surprise" in 2022, most of the troops placement and movement are visible from satellite, and they have communique everywhere and order of a frontal attack of this magnitude must have been known in advance by every nation in the world. You really can't hide a move order that big from the rest of the world. I think even Russian soldiers would be sending letters back home if they're told to strike, hell they might be on tik-tok documenting that.
It wasn't them that bleat about imminent attack.
If there's scaremongering normally comes from the West.
Now we know? How, because Putin said so? Mr. Transparency himself?
Russia’s involvement in Ukraine started way before the annexation of Crimea.
Didn't you call the Uighur concentration camps essentially fake news?
It's not? Millions killed there? Gotta hand it to China, they killed millions and still open for Tourism
He's become a meme because of the stupid comments he sometimes makes. Not the sharpest tool in the box afaik.
Watching a bit of CNN last night and they're so eager to talk up the potential of conflict. They flat out said all the people they spoke to who weren't worried were in denial or disbelief, because obviously the US know better.
Who said they killed millions? They're just putting them in concentration camps to "re-educate" them.
US media get a hard on when there is a war.
I'd ignore it, western media will of course sensationalise anything.
Gotta just look up what Russia is doing ourselves if we want an idea of whats really going on... It's all easily trackable with today's available satalite imagary, social media networks, etc.
Good luck not coming to the same conclusion though.
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There is tons of fake news around China/Uighurs tbf, from organ harvesting to Genocide. "China Evil" is an alt/far right narrative so lots of crap gets spread around the net and people believe it. The camps appear to be real of course.
if the camps are real, as are the first hand accounts of torture and maltreatment, how is “China evil” an alt/far right narrative?
This is before we even get started on their general censorship, treatment of their population of Hong Kong, re-education of tennis stars who get raped by leadership and everything else.