"Divide et impera"

The advent of the internet opened the door wide for a strategy that previously required aircraft,
millions of propaganda flyers and the ability to drop them undetected.

When it got to the point that a swath of Americans was accusing a swath of other Americans of being child molesters and cannibals, I knew it was time to step back and review the premise behind Plato's allegory of the cave.

I suggest that some of you consider the possibility that your fears and hatred are being played, like a Stratovarius - to divide you from the rest of us, as a means to weaken us as a whole.

Factor this - while America has it's own problems with political insider trading, we at least get to know about it after the fact via public record.

For Putin and his oligarch's, not so much.

Back in 2020, Putin did something weird, for those who recall, he smothered the market in oil supply to get the price of oil down to $12/barrel. It was timed/optimized just after the Covid market crash.

Putin hinted that it was to hurt American refiners, but I say it was far more insidious.

I believe Putin & his oligarch's knew he was going to attack Ukraine back then, likely positioned extremely long option calls or derivatives on energy futures via third parties (like Deutsche bank), after intentionally crashing prices.

If you think futures and derivative traders are required to publicly disclose positions like the regular market, wrong - I refer to the "commodity futures modernization act" created in 1999 which exempts futures and derivatives from regular public disclosure requirements.

The CFTC couldn't even reveal these records to the Pentagon when they investigated the '08 crash and the strange surge in oil to $140+/barrel that triggered the rout back then.

Then, Putin, this year with oil already high, invades Ukraine and takes profits @ $120 oil.

I firmly believe Putin is behind the Nordstream sabotage, It's obvious that Nat gas prices will soar this winter and likely he's positioned long in futures ahead of it.

Everything Putin does is for personal gain, he owns the Russian media and can distort public consensus, referring to any news that challenges him as "fake news" and have them arrested/imprisoned.

We came uncomfortably close to a similar governance ourselves recently.

Putin knows he won't win a war against us with his army, nor even with his Nukes, but....he could win it financially, by crushing Western economies via the allowed secrecy of the futures market and his ability to invoke events that drastically effect commodity/energy prices with massive long or short positions strategically placed ahead of time.

We can continue to waste time insulting each other's politics, while ignoring what he's doing, or, we can wake the F--- up and see what's really happening.

I leave with this -

"We have been forgetting the basic truth that the greatest threat to human freedom is the concentration of power, whether in the hands of government or anyone else"

"...Or anyone else"

Milton Friedman, founder of Libertarianism

Good points regarding professionals leaving and affecting Russia's economy.

Hopefully Georgia sees the same point, what Russia did was Putin, not it's citizens, not all of them.

I think one of Putin's biggest mistakes was assuming he could manipulate public consensus outside Russia the way he does it inside via the internet.

I glance at a few pro-Russian "news" sites, some of which claim to be American and have also served to rustle up divisions here in the U.S. and from what I can see these sites are weakening.

Russian sites have been caught posing as Americans making ludicrous claims against other American's to stir up divisions... and it's been scarefully effective.

I'm pretty sure Jan 6th, Qanon, Pizzagate and numerous others are sourced in Russian money, influencing online.

If you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth.

Basel, that's true, and it still has the same effect on physical objects or light passing through that space, the spreading is accelerating more the further we look out.

The Suka wars was actually a civil war within the prison system.

Rubbing my eyes in disbelief at the news From Russia tonight.

All I can think of for historical reference is the battle of Thermopylae.

300 Spartans (and a few Greeks) beat 10,000 Persians, all attributed to the Spartans strategy and know-how.

The Persians just assumed sheer numbers and untrained brute force was all it took to win, the Spartans proved otherwise.

Right now,
Russians are fleeing the borders to avoid Putin's draft (conscript), I'm hearing just for Kazakhstan alone there are near 100K Russians across now, that's insane, that's .75% of the Russian population in just two days on just one border, and more are coming.

Then, Georgia, there's a massive backup of border traffic trying to enter, an estimated 50 hour wait, with countless thousands already in.

Then, Finland, same thing, they're considering closing their border, far too many Russian refugees to deal with. (reminds me of Syria, oh the irony)

Putin, it seems, is making the same mistakes Xerces did.

First mistake, allowing Oligarch, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to recruit his army from penitentiaries, criminals, to fight for them.

This is why so many seniors, women and children in Ukraine were tortured, raped and murdered, also why those forces fled once it got scary.

It's estimated Russia has lost upwards of 80,000 troops already and Russian citizens want no part of this, so it seems.

While Putin controls the news, he cannot control word of mouth nor cell phone camera's witnessing the atrocities.

Russians have a HUGE connection to Ukraine, there are strong family ties there, but also, Russians know this war has already killed more than 9 years in Afghanistan did.

Lastly, yesterday, two members of the Russian Duma spoke out against Putin's tactics, one is the head of the council, this, after Putin made it "illegal" to speak out against his war.

Putin is cornered, he's getting down to that last Ace up his sleeve, the real nuclear option.

Will his government stop him before that?

Great case for not allowing a strong man dictator to reign over a purported Democracy, that's for sure.

Cat 3 going into Cuba, where they often lose momentum nearing land, fingers crossed for you folks.

Not only beautiful, but amazingly intuitive- How'd you know????

My guess, Mike?

James, I'd all of given up on this site with all the non-stop fakes.

Then, I found this forum and learned this chat forum is this site's forte. I met someone here over a year ago and we're very happy, just returned from a 7,000 mile commute to see her last week.

I suggest, for this site, avoid the temptation to use the "automation" it seems to want you to rely on, instead, chat here, get to know folks.

There are a lot of scammers on date sites that use messaging and chat to gain trust, instead use this forum to meet folks.

I'm sorry, really, I'm trying to keep a straight face, really I am, seriously, this is serious business, I shouldn't laugh, really, I shouldn't....

I'm suddenly remembering the neighbor's father in American Beauty, Chris Cooper nailed the persona perfectly.

Thank you all for wishing me a happy 28th birthday, and let's not forget, Bonnie just celebrated her 24th just weeks ago too.

"As they look at the wall before them, they believe the shadows of objects cast by the moving figures are real things"

I find it odd that Hawking even bothered with an opinion on this.

97% of the observable universe is moving away from us faster than light, no signal we send will ever reach them.

The nearest galaxy is 2.5 million light years.

Just our galaxy alone is 100+ light years wide, meaning it will take 100 years for any signal to reach the other side.

That leaves us with our own galaxy, let's say an advanced, but murderous, civilization receives our signal in 50 years, in the time it takes for them to get to us, we will have been long extinct from either nuclear war or global warming.

The good news, Energy executives and defense contract executives will have lived a very luxurious existence up to that point.

Awww, thanks guys.

Especially you, sweetie.

Yep, tossing a vote for River

Feelin' good, Bonnie's home soon, cheese is grated, meat's near ready and I'm randomly thinking "... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

Bonnie and I have watched House of Dragon to date, I personally think it outdoes GoT so far, but to some that's blasphemy!

Smiling, happy to be part of Bonnie's morning routine, in person, not on Zoom.

You obviously didn't watch The first video I linked - it's not Veritasium, this video intended to debunk Veritasium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vrhk5OjBP8

He took your stance but HE put his money where his mouth is

He ran 1 km, 1000 meters of wire, used an oscilloscope to time it in conjunction with the switch and explained his methods in intricate detail.

Watch at around 9:00, where he begrudgingly acknowledges the initial surge is at the same time as the switch, not the full current, but that was Derek's claim to begin with....that "a small amount" of electricity" would reach the end of the circuit at that speed.

Both this video and Veritasium's give physical examples of how, on a much longer circuit, electricity could arrive before light coming from the same destination.

Derek's whole point was to demonstrate that electrical current doesn't actually "flow" the way most of us perceive it does. If it did it would be impossible to arrive at, or faster, than light speed.

Nothing physical can exceed lightspeed, though space can stretch faster and electrons can displace immediately over distances, they are not moving FTL.


Here,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIhgxav9LY

in Veritasium's original explanation, jump to about 11:40, where he explains how the electrify arrives faster than light without violating light speed.

Another way to look at it, push your kitchen table, the opposite end will arrive to it's stopping point before the light leaving the hand that pushed it. the table definitely hasn't exceeded light speed.