I don’t know what reddit is saying about Russia, but the “poor Russia, couldn’t help themselves and had to invade” doesn’t convince me. They made a calculated move which didn’t go as well as they expected. It happens sometimes.

NATO had an “open-door” policy from the start. Russia knows this, so unless we really think everyone over there is really dumb, they knew that NATO’s “sure, maybe we’ll let you in sometime in the future” meant little. Ukraine was trying to join since the early 2000’s and the reply was always the same… Ukraine wasn’t going to join NATO in 2014, like zero chance. I recommend reading about the state of their forces, corruption, etc, at the time. What changed was that Yanukovych was going to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, something that most of Ukraine supported (if we’re to trust polls and look at the reaction when he unexpectedly changed his mind) while Russia wanted Ukraine to do the same agreement with them instead.

The existential threat… I don’t know. Do you really think that their “existential threat” is now higher that Finland joined NATO (because of Russia’s actions)? Estonia is fine, but Ukraine is makes that “existential threat” much, much worse? And who the hell is going to start a war in Russia when they have capacity to reply to normal attacks and will, without a doubt, use their nukes if invaded? Does NATO now have a death wish or something like that?

I keep reading about that non expansion promise… again, I guess you all think Russians are dumb and got verbal assurances thinking that it’s the same as having them in writing. In any case, Russia doesn’t own eastern Europe, many countries have made clear they don’t want to be under their thumb or be part of their country. If Russia doesn’t like this, well, though luck. A reality check would also help here… they’re not the USSR.

The Vietnam example wasn’t a good one, but my point is that if we start finding excuses to justify wars, well, we can, but it never ends and it’s never our fault.

The US has some history with Cuba… but the only time when there was a really serious reaction wasn’t when Castro became friends with the Soviet Union… it was when nukes were deployed in Cuba (partially their fault, after deploying theirs in Turkey). Russia invaded Ukraine because they were winking at the EU and NATO… like, they didn’t even kiss!

I know why they invaded, but I also believe in taking responsibility for one’s actions. We can talk about moral responsibility, but at the end of the day Russia invaded Ukraine and therefore they are responsible for the war they started.

Oh, I’m liberal now. Weird as I was a fascist just before I left reddit. In a few hours someone will call me a communist.

You should be honest with yourself and at least become familiar with the context of the demands before forming an opinion. I’ll give you a hint: UA does have a very real Nazi problem that is directly connected to RF’s invasion.

I’m very honest with myself. I also try to not bullshit myself into believing it’s only an Ukraine problem.

Russia didn’t invade Crimea and then the Donbas region in 2014 because of Nazis. After Yanukovych weirdly reverted his position on Europe (European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement) and got kicked out, Russia decided to invade to support all those “Russian speakers”. Of course, there was even a referendum, but as Igor Girkin said, they had the guns and politicians did as they were told.

People like to forget that far-right groups like the Azov Battalion and some of far-left/anarchist groups that joined the fight were only created after the invasion, after the Ukrainian army completely failed to do their job. It’s as if the ultra-nationalist and people with more extreme views in general are the first to react to an aggression against their country! /s

But yes, Ukraine had “nazis”, but so did Russia. I recommend reading about people like Aleksandr Dugin (and his views), which seems to be liked even by Putin himself. As a space fan and a fan of some of the Soviet accomplishments, I couldn’t help but notice that when the war started, the boss of Roscosmos was Dmitry Rogozin… an old member of the Russian National Unity party, which had some “interesting” views. In fact, here’s a picture of young Rogozin with the flag of the party in the background. I’ll also give you a hint: they’re nazi as fuck.

I guess we need to invade Russia, right? And make some demands where Russia gives away part of their territory… at least that’s what the very well informed and smart people such as yourself think should happen? Or this only applies to when Russia has a problem with someone else?

Also, in 2019 the far-right party (Svoboda) received 2.16% of the votes in the whole country. Not even 3%. And then Russia comes in, invades Ukraine again and transforms Azov into national heroes. Well, good fucking job Russia! I’m sure that helps reducing support for nazis. /s

These are open-ended questions and a proper explanation would take a long time. And let’s just say I’m dubious that you’re actually curious. The (over)simple answer is that they’re taking a deal to be subservient to the United States, which usually requires their political class, and therefore economic ruling class, to see an interest in doing do. Not that they’re correct - the US is slowly deindustrializing its European allies as we speak. The reason why those interests won out? Those are specific historical stories. Try answering your own question but for Ukraine’s toying with NAT membership. What led to the change in their political class?

If that’s the case, then Putin must be part of the conspiracy? The guy managed to give a new life to the alliance and even recruited 2 new countries where popular support to joining used to be really low. There’s no way he’s helping NATO so much without being part of all that. Surely you can see the guy is a plant?

Or maybe there’s a simpler explanation (Occam’s razor, for the cool kids).

Maybe people read what Russian politicians say, look at the size of their country, remember what happened during the days of the Soviet Union (and now at what happened to Ukraine) and say: “maybe we should be friends with that big guy over there, just in case the local bully decides to invade us”.

Of course my lIbErAl mind is too dumb to understand high level politics like you do, but if one reads Putin’s On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians and Address concerning the events in Ukraine, it’s not that hard to imagine that there’s a much simpler reason.

What lead to the change in Ukraine’s political class? Other than Yanukovych’s reversal and people getting pissed? I don’t know. If you’re suggesting any foul play, I’d like to remind you that Russia intervened directly in Belarus and Kazakhstan, so apparently that’s all good.

Case in point that you’re not curious in any real answers.

I’m curious, that’s why I sometimes actually read what Mr Putin says, am aware of his obsession with Peter the Great and his conquest of the Azov sea, etc. I also watch a bit of Russian television as they have interesting views on countries around them. I’m not even talking about weekly threats of nuking European cities or higher ups at Russia Today suggesting that Ukrainian kids should be killed in a river… Did you know that Kazakhstan now has a lot of “ethnic Russians” in need of protection? A bit weird since everything was fine until they stopped playing ball with Russia…

To know the real answers you can’t filter out everything that doesn’t fit your view. You have people like Putin making up excuses for his view that Ukraine is not really a proper country… yet you decide not to read it and to outright ignore it. And I’m the dumb guy who doesn’t want real answers?

Liberals often use cartoonish examples to understand a world for which their knowledge and ideology are inadequate.

My apologies, let me make it easier for you:

• Russia, which is not governed by morons, decided to invade Ukraine to accomplish certain objectives. They knew what they were doing, you don’t need to make excuses up to defend their actions.

• Like any major power, they don’t give a fuck about Ukraine or the people that live in Ukraine. It’s not a nice thing, but hey, it is what it is.

• No, Russia didn’t have to invade. No, Ukraine wasn’t going to invade Russia (nuclear obviously, plus they struggle to take control of their own territory…). And no, there’s no way in hell 2014 Ukraine was going to join NATO (they’ve been trying since the early 2000’s…).

Anyway, if you want to support them, then fine. Just don’t try to come up with bs excuses for what they’re doing. You like Russia and you like what they’re doing. I on the other hand don’t agree with they’re doing and also have a similar position when other countries do the same, so you can see why I don’t support their invasion of Ukraine.

I’ve watched the lecture. He makes some good points, but there are also some flaws with his positions. I recommend doing a quick “googling” for articles with counter points.

Russia is not governed by amateurs that are easily baited into invading a country. They decided to force Ukraine to align with them and when that didn’t work, they decided to invade in 2014. The decision and responsibility is theirs.

It’s a bit like blaming the Soviet Union or China for the Vietnam war because they were “expanding” communism or something like that. It makes no sense.

Yes. “Denazify” everyone that thinks Ukraine is a country, give up all your weapons, and give us part of your territory… or else.

Sure, totally fair demands. /s

NATO encirclement

Can you explain why countries want to join NATO? Why do they want to give away some control of their military so badly and risk being dragged into someone else’s war just to join this alliance? Why are fairly neutral countries like Finland and Sweden joining it?

It’s as if there’s a country to the east pushing the idea that they’re actually part of Russia, that their culture doesn’t exist, that their cities should be nuked or that said country’s army should just invade!

Reminds me of that meme where the guy puts something into his bike wheel and then blames someone else for the outcome.

According to Russia, they started it all in 2014 by invading Crimea. They initially denied it, but then even Putin himself said that the Little Green Men were their special forces. People like Igor Girkin said he was commanding militias in Crimea and later in the Dombas and that they were composed of Russians and some Ukrainians. That’s what Russia says, so there’s no point in even trying to deny it.

There was no Azov before the invasion. There was no war crimes. There was no famine. There was no shelling. No ceasefire violations. It started when Russia made the decision to invade Ukraine.

Maybe you want to go further back? How far back? How about 1994 and the Budapest Memorandum where Russia agreed to respect Ukraine’s borders?

Wait, I know, you’ll blame NATO. Care to explain why countries want to give some of their military freedom away just to join NATO? What is nice Russia doing or saying that makes them want to join? Could it be something to do with the regular comments about invading their countries or nuking their cities? And do you really think that a weak, bloated, and corrupt military (a fair description of pre-2014 Ukraine military) was going to be allowed into NATO (and we’re the ones falling for propaganda)? I’d also like to know your opinion about CSTO.

Russia decided to invade Ukraine to expand their territory. That’s why Putin gave that long history lesson days before the invasion (the one that was not going to happen and was an American lie!). It’s was all there, for those who actually listened to it.

If you want to support them, then do it, but at least grow up a pair and stop using bullshit excuses to support your position.

No. For most (if not all) batteries the recommendation is to avoid discharging them too much.

Having a larger battery helps here because you won’t go as deep. On a larger UPS, maybe you’ll be at 30% when the power returns instead of being at 5%. On a phone, it may reduce the number of charging cycles because you no longer need to charge during the day or have to go too deep. On EVs, a larger battery means that you won’t have to fast charge as much during trips and that you won’t have to charge it to 90% to reach the next charger or arrive with a very low state of charge.

Larger batteries also allow devices to age better. If I get a phone that barely lasts me a day, I’ll probably have to replace the battery or carry a power bank around after a while. On the other hand, if I always end the day with 20-30% left, I’ll only have problems after losing ~20% of capacity. It’s the same with a UPS. If we find ourselves going down to 5% when it’s new, then 2 or 3 years later that USP won’t be enough for our load/outages and will shutdown before power returns.

I don’t have anything to add in terms of solutions, but I think it’s worth trying to understand why your batteries only last 1 or 2 years.

If it’s because they’re too low capacity for your needs and you’re deep draining discharging them often, then you might be able to save money in the long term by getting a larger, more expensive UPS. If the environment where they operate is harsh (eg: too hot), maybe the fix is actually air con or something like that. And so on.

Batteries can last a long time, but you need to avoid the extremes: temperatures, state of charge, charging cycles, etc.