History and gaming enthusiast from Finland. Also into politics and culture.

Historiasta ja peleistä kiinnostunut pirkanmaalainen. Seuraan myös politiikkaa ja kulttuuria.

Striimailen pelejä viikottain Youtubeen, asialinjalla ja ilman turhaa kohkausta: https://youtube.com/@NukeminHerttua

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Some time ago I read about a similar situation with copyright preventing use of pictures of 70+ year old paintings in a doctoral dissertation. The dissertation was all about analyzing those paintings so the situation was sort of ridiculous.

    Even worse, the owner of the paintings (the artist’s heirs) had given their permission for the use, but the the high quality photographs of the paintings were owned by institution that requested thousands of euros for their use. While 100% lawful and I understand cultural institutions also need money, the whole situation felt really wrong and against common sense and decency.

    I understand requesting money from a commercial project, but for and academic dissertation that’s not fair. Same goes for emoji’s that are anyways used by millions of people every day. No one is going to profit directly from a dissertation anyways.It’s just stupid and should be changed.



  • I think you seriously underestimate Russia. They have a helluva lot of manpower, natural resources and money. They are also able to import western sanctioned materials via China and Central Asian countries.

    Russian society is being organized to resemble a war economy. There are new laws that make drafting more difficult to avoid and with more severe punishments. Also they have just raised the age for conscription. They are playing the long game and preparing for future eg. mobilizing the whole society under one delirious cause. Late 20s, early 30s it is totally possible that Russia has a better military capacity than it currently has. Sure, the life of average Russian will suck way more than it does now, but there’s not really an option if you want to keep your job in a tank factory and avoid going to prison. You have no choice but to participate.

    Putin has made his mind and the struggle in Ukraine only makes him more determined that He is fighting an existential battle with the west, especially since he believes that democracies and western liberal lifestyle are on a path of inevitable decline.

    Sure, if he is stupid enough He might start a conflict with NATO, believing that the alliance will break when under pressure. He might think that He is prepared and the west is weak. And while there’s 95% change that he is mistaken, it doesn’t matter if he himself believes the crap the yesmen around him and He himself are feeding him. That’s the real risk and to me, a defeat in Ukraine makes this scenario less likely to happen.


  • If beaten in Ukraine, there is a chance that the trajectory of the Russian Federation changes. Currently they are trying to fulfill a senseless imperial project which is doomed to eventually fail.

    With defeat in Ukraine, there’s a chance that the growing destabilization within Russia leads to abandonment of the imperial dream. It might also force a change in the leadership albeit not necessarily for the better. What it would do however, is to show that the Putinist system is not the only option and that the actions it has taken, are in fact harmful for Russia and Russians. In a way, it opens up a way to politicize the apolitical Russian public.

    In the semi long/long term this would benefit the population as it would not only challenge the idea of Russia as an Empire, but also allow for a less authoritarian model of governance.


  • Well, this is one possible outcome, although not necessary. For example Finland was able to patch it’s relations with Russia after 2 brutal wars with tens of thousands of casualties and a huge chunk of lost land. Of course the friendly relations were somewhat forced and a survival mechanism for a small country in Cold War era (Russia had a hold on Finland while Finland navigated in it’s position to gain as much political freedoms it could) but it genuinely got rid of open hostilities between the countries.

    Even after the cold war ended and up to today, majority of the population in Finland has not had a revanchist opinion towards Russians, albeit they were not fully trusted either. Finns learned to live as neighbors and in peace while preparing just in case.

    So while it is probably likely that loosing land would cause a negative nationalistic turn in Ukraine and grievances towards Russia, it’s not set in stone. Actually I am way more concerned that if Russia can claim a victory, they expand their delirious imperial/quasifascist project and escalate the conflict with the west further.





  • There is an easy way to end the war: Russian withdrawal. It really is as simple as that.

    At any point in history Russian Federation had no right or business to occupy any part of Ukraine. It was up to Ukraine to decide what to do with those areas.

    While we all want the war to stop, it cannot be done at any price. Ukraine must be allowed to return the areas stolen from it and Russia must return to pre 2014 borders. Either they do it willingly or with force. No one likes it, but it’s Russia that chose to attack, not Ukraine.

    I hope your friends are safe, but at the same time I hope they have the sense to leave Crimea until things settle.

    And let’s hope for peace, but recognize that it cannot be achieved by giving into the offender’s demands.








  • Not counting the obvious blackmail aspect of the Two Pence Sultan’s demand, the whole idea is stupid.

    EU and NATO are separate organizations with separate structures. While most of EU are NATO members, NATO issues aren’t, shouldn’t and cannot be decided in EU bodies. I’d be very surprised if anyone in EU (including Sweden) would change their stance towards Turkey unless they themselves undergo fundamental changes to match the applicant criteria.

    Unless Erdogan has his head totally up in his own arse, He knows this. He’s probably upping the ante to later back off and make a deal on some other issue that has been too much for NATO or the US up to this point.

    Ofcourse this is just my reading of the situation and I’m not an expert on Turkey or international policy. It just seems to fit Erdogan’s Modus operandi.