Re: OT (geopolitics) So much winning

On 2/19/25 9:35 PM, Rick Moen wrote:

> What are the Europeans going to do?  The first and obvious thing will
> be to go nuclear, exactly what we've spent 80 years trying to prevent:
> Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Romania have the ability to make nuclear
> bombs over a long weekend, and we just gave them a reason.  And also
> Ukraine, by the way, which was a nuclear power before but gave up all
> its nukes in exchange for Western security guarantees.  And then, get
> this:  The Germans, too.

For European countries, supporting Ukraine isn't just the right thing to 
do -- it means that Russia pays for half of their defense R&D.

Oil refineries are exploding pretty far within Russia, with hundreds of 
kilometers and intense jamming between the target and Ukraine. From what 
I can tell, it looks like the Ukrainian side has progressed beyond the 
mainframe era of strategic bombing to more like the Homebrew Computer 
Club era of autonomous or semi-autonomous long-range, low-budget drones. 
(At some point people will realize that if you're in the oil business, 
that's because nobody who is really good at Ardupilot has a strong 
objection to you being in the oil business.)

(And yes, I'm sure there is a set of 3-ring binders in a top secret safe 
at Poland's Ministry of Defense, containing a full nuclear program 
already planned and budgeted.)