Re:Ask HN: Is anyone else genuinely scared that this is the ...
by altdataseller on Sunday February 27, 2022 @08:27PM
(#30495046)
They're not strawmen, especially the last. There were quite a few intelligent ppl who seriously thought there's no way he was going to war with Ukraine.
Re:Ask HN: Is anyone else genuinely scared that this is the ...
by hn_throwaway_99 on Sunday February 27, 2022 @08:47PM
(#30495250)
Were those "quite a few intelligent people" not watching the news? The US has been explicit about the intelligence for weeks/months now. Even if you wanted to discount the US intelligence, the military buildup surrounding Ukraine was unmistakable.
Biden was quoted as saying the Russian attack had unfolded "largely as predicted". Pretending the invasion was some sort of great shocker is a rewrite of history.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-02-24/biden-...
Re:Ask HN: Is anyone else genuinely scared that this is the ...
by dev-3892 on Sunday February 27, 2022 @06:15PM
(#30493843)
The linked article is very informative; it includes things I'd not read elsewhere.
For instance, it talks about Putin's willingness to use "battlefield" nukes rather than "strategic" city-destroying nukes – betting that the West would immediately concede any war where a smaller nuke were deployed in the interest of avoiding escalation.
> Oh wait!
> He's bluffing with separatist regions.
> Oh wait!
> He's bluffing with invading Ukraine.
> Oh wait!
These are all straw men. I don't know any serious analysts who thought he was bluffing in any of those areas, primarily because they all understood the Western response would be muted.
He knows, as the rest of the world does, that launching nuclear war will require an all-out response from Western powers.