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https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-03-04/what-if-russia-loses "Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a strategic blunder by invading Ukraine. He has misjudged the political tenor of the country, which was not waiting to be liberated by Russian soldiers. He has misjudged the United States, the European Union, and a number of countries—including Australia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea—all of which were capable of collective action before the war and all of which are now bent on Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. The United States and its allies and partners are imposing harsh costs on Moscow. Every war is a battle for public opinion, and Putin’s war in Ukraine has—in an age of mass-media imagery—associated Russia with an unprovoked attack on a peaceful neighbor, with mass humanitarian suffering, and with manifold war crimes. At every turn, the ensuing outrage will be an obstacle to Russian foreign policy in the future. No less significant than Putin’s strategic error have been the Russian army’s tactical blunders. Bearing in mind the challenges of assessment in the early stages of a war, one can surely say that Russian planning and logistics were inadequate and that the lack of information given to soldiers and even to officers in the higher echelons was devastating to morale. The war was supposed to end quickly, with a lightning strike that would decapitate the Ukrainian government or cow it into surrender, after which Moscow would impose neutrality on Ukraine or establish a Russian suzerainty over the country. Minimal violence might have equaled minimal sanctions. Had the government fallen quickly, Putin could have claimed that he was right all along: because Ukraine had not been willing or able to defend itself, it was not a real country—just like he had said. But Putin will be unable to win this war on his preferred terms. Indeed, there are several ways in which he could ultimately lose."

If you move out and establish a separate place to live, your wife can file for sole possession of where you currently live. If you have your own place, the court will grant her a place of her own, and you will be legally barred from entering without her permission. People say "Don't move out" but don't say why. That's why. That said, depending on financial situation, maybe it would be for the best to have separate living spaces. Someone said try marriage counseling, I agree with that. See if the problems you're facing can be resolved. If not, if you're just going to be unhappy together, then you will need to move on with your life. Just try to be as involved with your daughter as possible. You should be able to have 50/50 custody. Also, if she asks about what is going on, don't give detail, just say you and her mother are working on things. Never say anything bad about your wife to your daughter. I thought my divorce would go smoothly, but my ex had other ideas. It got ugly, but I never let my kids see any of that. No arguments in front of them, none of the other stuff that happened involved them. Shield your daughter as much as possible. It's hard to see the other side, but you will come out of it ok.

Putin right now

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/opinions/american-unity-stopping-vladimir-putin-kasparov-epshtein/index.html "What Americans must recognize is any suffering we experience now is a necessary price to pay compared to the world we would be ushering in through inaction. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to tear apart the fabric of the rules-based world order countless Americans have died to create and defend. In the process, it would make the current shocks we’re experiencing our new normal. In a world lacking order, border disputes will be settled through conflict, destabilizing entire regions. If Kyiv falls, will Moldova be next? Putin’s ally in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, seemed to reveal plans to do just that. Meanwhile, China’s Xi Jinping is eyeing Taiwan for a forced “reunification” of the two countries that the Taiwanese leadership will not submit to peacefully. And fear of invasion from an increasingly belligerent China or North Korea has persuaded many South Koreans to support developing a nuclear arsenal of their own. Despite this reality, the mission to further undermine American support for Ukraine is ongoing. On Saturday, mere days after Putin invaded Ukraine, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) released a statement condemning Russia’s invasion and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainians. But in the same statement, they then reaffirmed their “call for the US to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict.” In making such a plea, the Democratic Socialists managed to frame the US as the imperialist expansionist, even as Russia wages an unprovoked and bloody war of imperialist expansion. Then, on Sunday, Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman turned Fox News regular, implored America to call on Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Biden to “embrace the spirit of aloha” and declare Ukraine perpetually neutral, “thus alleviat[ing] the legitimate security concerns of both US/NATO countries and Russia.” By “legitimate security concerns” of Russia, we assume she means Putin’s desire to dominate his smaller neighbor. These voices may be on the fringe now, but they will likely grow louder. When that happens, we must remember though the cost of stopping Putin is high, the cost of allowing the world order to be rewritten is far greater. Americans must maintain this unity, continue our support of the Ukrainian people and recognize the fight for democracy is about much more than one country’s ability to determine its own fate. The struggle for democracy is also about the ability to live in a world where disagreements can be solved through diplomacy, where human rights are protected and where peace is the status quo. When partisans attempt to undermine our support for Ukraine, when the effects of strong economic sanctions are felt at the gas pump and the grocery store, remember this is a struggle we must face head on."

I thought they were CCC+, or CCCP as it's sometimes written.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-russias-nobel-winning-newspaper-is-covering-ukraine "From the outside, it seems that Putin doesn’t put up with contrary opinions among his advisers or the oligarchs. He seems to have calculated that he can absorb Western sanctions. Is there any brake, any barrier, to his taking over Ukraine, or much of Ukraine? Putin distrusts the West. He is sincerely flummoxed by talk about “Western values.” He buys wholesale former Chancellors, Prime Ministers, and ministers from Europe, putting them on the boards of state-owned or close-to-the-state Russian companies. They have a price, but they don’t have values: I’d say that this is what he thinks. As for whether there’s some kind of brake to his conquering Ukraine, I think it’s very difficult. His entourage is afraid to utter a word. How far Putin is willing to go—that’s not known by anyone."

Quit carrying water for the Russians. Putin is angry about NATO expansion because it threatens Russian security, right? Why don't they apply to join NATO? It would give them the security they crave. Of course they would never do that, because they don't want to be bound by the rules that NATO members have to abide by. This whole idea of a threatening NATO presence is ludicrous. It's a defensive agreement, mutual aid if under attack. The idea that it puts offensive missiles on their border is not credible. It made perfect sense to expand NATO, to turn countries that were previously forced to be part of an antagonistic pact into allies. It's straight Russian propaganda to push this idea of Russia being threatened by NATO.

They've all made the decision that it would be too costly politically to oppose Russia. Right now, Biden is being derided for being "weak". If he'd ordered the Pentagon to start the process needed to get troops and equipment in place (which would have been months ago), he'd be getting criticized for involving us in a conflict that isn't in our interest. We'd be pouring money and soldiers into a conflict, and I think Russia would be making nuclear threats. Maybe Putin would have backed down, that's the only way it would have turned out well. But as it stands, we're standing by while Russia does whatever it wants, which feels bad. Watching American service members come home in boxes would also feel bad. Which one is worse? Biden decided it's the boxes. I hope he's right.

She grew up in San Fransisco, and is going to attend Stanford. She won't say if she gave up her US citizenship. It's not like she grew up in China and just trained here. The quote that irritates me most is her saying "When I'm in China, I'm Chinese, when I'm in America, I'm American." She made a choice. Stick with it, don't try to play both sides.

You're actively trying to summon techboy, admit it.

Gutsy calls to start the game

Same here. Then next weekend it would be the California Bowl, and the Rust Belt Bowl.

Evans pushed off. No call. Wow

This thread is getting popcorn worthy

Definitely a fumble.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/tom-brady-nfl-referees-favorable-treatment/a9u0d7doh4421mdsh6gb6dgoa "I do know that [the officials] probably let me get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conducts, talking smack to the other team and talking smack to the refs when I don't think I get the right call," Brady said. "I'm kind of a pain in their a— if you don't already know that." So, big no on that, my dude.

Maybe don't gloat about how you've been given a free pass for years to **** at the refs?

The stadium hype guy is beyond annoying. Imagine paying thousands to be subjected to that.

That looked bad. Hope Baker is ok.

This is a good thing. Give Philly hope that maybe Hurts is the guy after all.

Kerrigan is having a game. Brady is probably only slightly less frustrated than Eagles fans.

I hope they hang 50+ on the Pats