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From: Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: Pearls Before Swine: Uncle Is Not Good With Money
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:39:56 -0500
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On 1/13/2025 11:54 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> On 1/13/2025 8:24 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Lynn McGuire  <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I found the interview interesting because Putin appears to believe it
>>> all and justify his actions thereof.  Many of the Russian citizens
>>> appear to believe him also and still support him even though they have
>>> lost a million soldiers in the Ukranian war.
>>
>> I think you are right.  I am curious if he actually believes it but quite
>> probably he does.  And he does have more support than Americans would
>> have given a war with such casualties.  By 1972, Americans had lost
>> around 55,000 troops in Vietnam and half the country was up in arms 
>> against
>> the war.  Russia isn't like America.
>> --scott
> 
> Go watch the new Napoleon movie.  Towards the end of his career, 
> Napoleon takes 650,000 French and German troops to Russia, intent on 
> taking Moscow.  When he gets to Moscow, no one is there and it is 
> torched while they are in it.
>     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
> 
> Napoleon decides to walk home to France.  Only 35,000 of his troops make 
> it home with him.  Horrible.  Another 35,000 straggle in later.
>     https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13287846/

....as documented in one of the greatest infographics of all time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard#The_map_of_Napoleon's_Russian_campaign


> My point is that the Russians have been willing to go to extreme lengths 
> to fight off invaders.  And at this point, they consider Ukraine to be a 
> extended part of Russia.

Moscow sits in the middle of a vast plain, stretching from Germany to
Urals. Its been invaded many, many times. Buffer zones are pretty much
the only defense that they know works.

It's terrifying to Putin that so much of Russia now borders on NATO
countries. He felt far more secure when there was a layer of Warsaw
Pact countries in the way.

pt