Putin's no sweetheart of course, but America has had no problem partnering with much worse autocrats than him if it served the national interest. How destroying our economy while driving Russia into the arms of our main competitor is in our interest is something that's very mysterious to me.

China Solomon Islands security deal: Morrison defends relations with Solomon Islands after 'invasion' claim (9news.com.au)

The reality is, America is an empire in decline, and going around like a drunk in a bar challenging everyone to a fight won't change that. Eventually our bluff will get called, in fact it already is (witness the Saudis thinking about accepting yuan for oil). No American interest depends on who controls Ukraine or Taiwan, acting like it does will only make the collapse more chaotic and destructive than it needs to be. I agree that Finland and Sweden contemplating NATO membership is not something Russia wants, but it doesn't change the fact that Ukraine for them is a red line, and not really for anyone else. So the US/EU going hysterical over this only makes them look insane to the rest of the world. But I doubt China is regretting their support for Russia, simply because they know if Russia falls, they are next. And besides: Russia is not losing the war, it seems clear they will achieve their primary objectives (no one but the US government and media are claiming the Russians intended a lightning victory).

Ozzy's Boneyard mainly plays standard stuff (by any band), so you'll hear Kashmir, CB, Black Dog, MMH, etc. I've heard In the Light a few times on the Pearl Jam station, which was very cool.

Yeah, I heard that too, it was very cool!

BTW, by any objective measure, the Ukraine qualifies as a shit-hole as well, it has been one of the most corrupt countries in the post-Soviet era, worse than a lot of African nations. Doesn't mean they deserve to be invaded, of course, but it perhaps explains why so many US and European politicians are "outraged" over all of this. There is light they don't want shined there.

There's no doubt that China is a bigger long-term issue than Russia. (What we do about it is another question.) And of course, the leadership of the US and western Europe has driven Russia and China closer together by their moral posturing over Ukraine. They've just ensured that in any future conflict with China, the Chinese will be supplied by Russia's massive resources. (Even more shockingly, they've effectively brought India and China closer.) Pure genius, goes way beyond shooting themselves in the foot. The biggest problem, though, is the US/EU has increased the risk of nuclear war, which won't affect Alaska at all.

Indeed they are (shit-holes, for the most part). Does that mean the lives of people who live there mean nothing? That we have moral panic over a border dispute between two ex-Soviet nations, but show absolutely no concern over far worse human suffering everywhere else? Really? That's what we've become? I fucking hope not.

Actually you're right: you should definitely go over there and clear landmines.

The new head of Minitrue:

This is just sad: 'A huge demand': Ukrainian women train to clear landmines | AP News Nothing quite says "winning" like sending 20 year old teachers to clear land mines. Unless of course, the war you're primarily fighting is a propaganda war.

Definitely.

I can see Plant being opposed to something like this in the 80's, when he had an active solo career to focus on and the memories of Zep were perhaps still a bit raw. But since the 90's and beyond? I'm having a hard time seeing him oppose live releases (that he wouldn't have to work on anyway) adamantly enough to block Page.

Maybe, but why would Plant have been ok with the DVD and HTWWW, but then opposed to everything else? And there have been other things, like the TSRTS update in 2007 (or thereabouts) and the Paris show on the LZ I remaster. (Neither Plant nor Page seemed too concerned with releasing that, and it's pretty far from a flawless performance.) And Page's claims that he wanted to release something right after Bonham's death, when he was completely smacked out, are not really credible at all. Finally, if Plant is really that annoyed with questions from the press whenever some Zep-related thing comes up, why didn't he oppose Page's pointless (and inferior) re-leases of both HTWWW and TSRTS recently? Sorry, but a lot of this sounds like excuse-making by Page.

Agreed, it has hints of '75 in it.

Yeah, I was a little surprised by the somewhat lukewarm review of this show, in particular the relatively low grade for NQ.

Exact same MO: Kony 2012: don't be fooled (newstatesman.com)

Remember this stupidity: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/style/kony-2012-invisible-children.html It was a test run, it seems.

The WSJ is neoconservative, so just liberal with a slightly right-wing bent. (You seem easily distracted by the strong leftward shift of American politics behind the brain-dead red team/blue team charade.) They are just mouthing Pentagon talking points here. Only the US government and media are claiming Kiev was a primary objective. I will note that they acknowledge Ukrainian tactics of retreating into urban areas, which is a sure recipe for civilian casualties. Indeed, Russia is starting to bomb railways that are being used to bring in Western military hardware. You don't seem particularly curious as to why they've waited TWO MONTHS to do this (the Americans would have done it two days into the war). If you think Russian military planners are idiots, you should simply say so, but all this atrocity porn is getting boring (not to mention stupid).

I don't want to sound like an ingrate, but the remasters were a mixed bag. There was great stuff there (from Presence), but also stuff we've already heard before (Physical Graffiti) and a lot of things that were hard to distinguish from the original versions (IV). And yes, that's the point: he's been talking about releasing live stuff for a very long time, and still there's not much that's been done. But ultimately it's process of elimination to me. I just can't see a real reason why Plant or Jones would be holding things back, so the only logical choice is simply Page.

In other words, nowhere did they say they wanted to seize the entire country. Nothing in that quote suggests anything like full annexation, you're resorting to mind-reading it seems. The fact is, Ukraine is every bit as artificial an entity as Czechoslovakia was. If the US Deep State wasn't propping up it's own puppet in Kiev (something no one seems to have a problem with, remember Victoria Nuland's "fuck the EU" statement, the US government selects Ukrainians' "leaders" for them), this "country" would splinter into western and eastern parts. This war is dragging on because the US/UK are cynically using Ukraine as a tool to strike at Russia. No Russian official EVER said they could take the country in a few days. That's US government propaganda, dutifully mouthed by their captive media. Again, the US government is fabricating Russian war aims, so that when the Ukraine finally surrenders, the US can say Russia was "defeated" since they failed to achieve grandiose objectives that the US themselves manufactured. It's possible the Russians thought Zelensky would fold quickly (he's obviously a major coke fiend), but the fact is, they only had about 30K troops threatening Kiev, a city of 3M. There is no way a force that small can take a city that size. Unless Russian military planners are idiots (I'm sure they have their equivalents of Mark Milley or Lloyd Austin, but still), it's highly unlikely they planned to take the capital and install a new government. At any rate, they could have bombed it indiscriminately like the Americans bombed Baghdad (remember that place?), but they didn't.

Yeah, I guess if they were really serious about a humanitarian tragedy they'd write a letter to parliament or the UN. That's a firm moral stance!