An effect of our "TL;DR" culture is a lot of nuance gets lost.
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Europe under extreme duress
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
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An effect of our "TL;DR" culture is a lot of nuance gets lost.
He's written four fairly in depth books between 2014 and 2022 with, in my opinion, rigorously derived conclusions. Of course his 5-10 minute videos are BLUFish. Just because he doesn't show his work doesn't mean his conclusions are oversimplified. No one is perfect and when he doesn't get it right he, at least, admits it and offers why he thinks he didn't which is more than I can say for most.
Especially when headlines are written to get clicks, and not to accurately reflect what is in the story.
"And now we begin our first Presidential debate. Senator So-and-So, the war between Russia and Ukraine is one of the major pressing matters in geopolitics at the moment. Some argue the war is at a stalemate while others argue we need to give the Ukrainian offensive more time. There is the issue of whether we are drawing down the stocks of our own munitions too much in our efforts to supply Ukraine. There is also the issue of whether Ukraine should be permitted to join NATO now and why or why not. I would like to ask, if you are elected, what will your administration do differently to handle this situation and these issues than the current one one? You have 90 seconds to respond."
NATO allies offer Ukraine security assurances as Biden hits out at 'craven' Putin
President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having a "craven lust for land and power" at the end of a NATO summit on Wednesday where Ukraine won new security assurances from the U.S. and its allies for its defence against Moscow.
NATO and Ukraine both broadcasting that Ukraine will join as soon as the war is over? Seems like a guaranteed way to convince Russia to drag the war out for as long as possible.
Does the opposite of this exist anymore, without being behind a paywall of some sort?
I’m not so sure. IMO, some of the best discussion and analysis these days are on long form podcasts.
I’ve made the same observation, along with reading well-written, appropriately cited books. The nice thing is a lot of great podcasts are free. The not-so-nice thing is there is a lot of shit out there that has to occasionally be sorted through.
I resent the notion that I need to pay a monthly subscription to get “the best information”. In a democracy, that seems detrimental, particularly when what is open source from the same outlets is often so clearly biased, poorly written, or just plain wrong.
I'll put in another plug for ISW on this topic. They don't paywall (though they do solicit donations), they show their work for their assessments and conclusions, and if their assessments turn out to be incorrect, they will say so and try to analyze why. They also generate "tidy without being oversimplified" executive summaries daily in addition to more in-depth analysis. They published an outstanding piece not too long ago on why the Russian missile campaign in Ukraine hasn't paid any real dividends considering the investment, and another on Chinese preparations for urban warfare in Taiwan.
Well yeah, but media/news companies need to make money somehow, right?
Just like all businesses, yes. However, organizations who rely on divisive tactics and clickbait are far less likely to make a subscriber out of me than someone selling a good old fashioned newspaper, magazine, or book. Particularly so when we’re in a subscription-saturated economy, and reading time can be a precious commodity.
This is a bit of a threadjack, but I still like to purchase (gasp) physical periodicals, especially when I travel. I like the “one and done” nature of those, rather than a subscription I might find interesting for a week and then forget about (but I’m still paying, so the business doesn’t care). Then maybe 6 months later I pick it up again, or cancel when I realize I’ve been paying the bill the whole time.
It never occurred to me that folks would be vacationing in Crimea still. After the bridge damage, saw this...
and
You'd think so, but going somewhere 'safe' for vacation is more an American thing. The French in particular are notorious for vacationing anywhere. That people would spend their own money to spend a holiday in Djibouti was fascinating to me. Then again, Americans are still going to Tijuana, so.
Crimea is apparently very pleasant when it isn't, you know, an active war zone. Mild, dry, and pleasant summers, nice beaches, sort of like SoCal or the Spanish Med coast.
For Russia, all of that is a real rarity so no surprise it is a popular vacation spot. And it is also more budget friendly for those Russians that can't afford Dubai right now but the local tourism industry was already suffering even before the bridge got hit...again.
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Coming across my LinkedIn feed today . . . a Twitter (X?) thread from a Ukrainian doing training with the US in Germany.
There's strong, and then there's Army strong . . . ?