I like Tuabman and I like diversity in my games but I hate the implication that the USA is sufficiently not fascist and white supremacist to have her as a leader.
Well I disagree with you about the ports but you didn’t introduce anything new re their importance so I’ll leave that to one side for a moment.
A strategy of area denial also argues in favor of Russia seeking to balance of power against US and Israeli factions which leaves a deal with Jihadis and Turkey against the Kurds and Israel.
There’s no chance of a Ba’athist come back so either Russia cedes the zone or picks a side.
So along with the immensely strategic port, that makes two strong reasons why Russia will make a deal with the jihadis and align with Turkey.
They didn’t do it because of their moral goodness and belief in the magic of friendship.
It was about the naval base the entire time & the history of Syria doesn’t exactly read “no refugee crisis” so your belief structure here is wild.
What did Assad have to offer Russia? One thing only, and it was a big thing worth 14 years of war for.
“Warm water port crap” actually ports matter they really do. They really really do. Guam isn’t a holiday destination for the US and the Falklands aren’t valued for their sheep. The importance of Okinawa isn’t sushi nor tuna.
Russia spent 14 years providing Assad with a backbone which cost a pretty penny. Russia obviously cares about this naval base.
Fucking 200 years of conflict have been fought over warm water ports for Russia in the Black Sea and Mediterranean what the fuck do you mean “no big deal”?
Empires have been lost over the Suez Canal, this is a very strategic position for Russia. British went to war over the damn Falkland’s your damn right Russia will make a deal with these jihadis if that’s what it takes.
When has the US ever seen a proxy conflict it didn’t want to engage in?
Yes the US is overstretched but the calculus isn’t affected since this conflict will stretch Russia too and kept Erdogan tied down, and also force a true break in Russia-Israeli relations which are still fairly good considering Israel is allied with the US.
Plus it’s the oil. That’s why the Middle East matters. The Kurdish zone and the bit near Jordan are where the oil is. They won’t let Turkey just take that.
Further, destabilization is an objective unto itself. If the region is destabilized they can divide and conquer, assert themselves as an “intermediary” to protect their interests, and prevent a regional power bloc from forming that is contrary to their interests.
The endgame wasn’t Assad. They didn’t care about Assad except insofar as he was in the way. The USA being anti- or pro- Assad was only ever a question of context.
The US won’t shoot at Turkey but they’ll give guns to the Kurds. They already have been.
And the Jihadis were backed by Israel and were being bombed by Russia but Uno Reverso.
I think all Russia cares about in this is Tartarus. They dgaf who runs Syria so long as they get that naval base. And the Jihadis dgaf who supplies them so long as they get their caliphate. It’s a swipe right.
There’s a pathway here to a Turkish-Russian alliance backing jihadis vs the Israelis & Kurds & US.
Syria is such a fucking mess but, aside from the fact Russia spent most of a decade bombing the Jihadis, that’s the alignment that starts to make sense.
It would be incredibly foolish to trade away the immense advantage of the dollar for a speculative and finite asset like bitcoin
The Roman Empire didn’t benefit from debasing its currency either but it did and the warring generals era was disastrous but it happened because each general was looking out for themselves rather than for the empire overall.
The empire isn’t actually a monolith. There are many oligarchs and while their interests largely align, it’s a Venn diagram. If one set of players benefit from undermining the dollar in favor of bitcoin then they’ll do it for their personal benefit even if that weakens the structure as a whole.
Maybe the bankers will fight this and maybe they’ll beat the tech bros but maybe they don’t and the tech bros use crypto to steal power from the bankers. Even if that weakens the power of the empire overall, that still equates to more power for the tech bros themselves so worthwhile for them.
Whenever I read an article like this or about the probability of extraterrestrial civilization, I think there is the enormously hubristic assumption that “technological civilization” is, from an evolutionary perspective, a long-term success strategy.
Like, behaviorally modern humans are maybe 100,000 years old, the epoch in humans actually do enough stuff in the world to be force relevant to climate and biodiversity is maybe 5-10,000 years.
Maybe the answer to the Fermi paradox is obvious and maybe being a shark who swims and eat fish is an evolutionarily superior pattern, technologically civilized societies are evidentially doomed by the observation made in the Fermi paradox.
haven’t joined a gym or started rowing machines yet. That’s actionable.
weight goal unclear
booked appt with new ADHD psychiatrist
booked screening call with therapist
I booked and visited a dentist but went to the wrong clinic so rebooked another visit
steps at 10k average and I’m cycling a lot so this is on point
1 social dinner with friends. I bailed on another to have a date night so need to focus on friends for at least 1 more
cardio goal achieved
Overall tracking very well.
Actionables:
1 more social evening just with friends
join a gym for row machines
strength training can be more consistent
should be tracking weight goal and should admit it was probably too ambitious, consider adjusting this goal now with half the penalty (lose only 1kg from whatever it is now, and no drinking in January)
·3 days ago
·6 days ago
These borders are so blurry without my glasses