"According to the world's number one political nut job Dangerous Donald, yes Putin is only number two, the way for America to defeat Russia is to paint Chinese flags on F-22's and bomb Russian cities."

If you watch the video, you'll see it was a joke.

Trump told it as a joke.
The audience laughed because they got the joke.
Anyone with an IQ that starts with a '1' can see its a joke.

Unsurprisingly, it went over your head.

"I am extremely glad to be an old man living in Australia."

Despite the potential hyperbole, I think its very true that Australia is currently one of the better places on earth to be living....on average and for those who want to live a western lifestyle.

Unfortunately many see only the bad and imagine they only see good in those places they know little about. T'was always thus. Some people look at the Mona Lisa and only see the cracks in the paint. Others see the smile.

But we are on a bad trajectory and I'm not at all sure it'll still be the case that we are the envy of most of the planet in a generation.

Canem Malum,

"Theodore Dalrymple...claiming understanding of cultures other than their own."

He doesn't really make that claim. Most of his writing as regards other locales is about using them to illuminate our own society. By observing other societies it can bring clarity to our own.

One insight I loved was his thoughts on the frivolity of capitalism. We all know that critics of capitalism will claim its a waste to cater to minor differences in taste by making multiple versions of a product. eg while have multiple brands of toothpaste on the shelves?
He points out that the communist alternative where 'rational' production means only one version is made, ends up with a shoddy, unchanging product and uninspiring product. This is in relation to a visit to a 'supermarket' in Albania.

Josephus,

Its really fraught to be accepting of any casualty numbers at this early stage.....fog of war and all that.

It seems fairly clear that no matter how it goes from here, the long term results don't look promising for Putin. Finally destroying the Ukrainian forces will take a lot longer yet and will result in devastation of the country's infrastructure and its people. A victorious Russia will end up with an utterly destitute 'buffer zone'. Additionally it will have a peoples who are totally resistant to integration in mother Russia and where a portion will forcibly oppose the occupier. That will mean Russia will need to station an unacceptable number of troops there to maintain control.

Clearly the Russians thought they'd achieve a quick, clean conquest. That's not going to happen. So SR's Afghanistan analogy is apt

Thanks mhaze for your feedback-

I've been looking at things through the filter of counter intelligence-

I cautiously agreed that "he appears from the Wikipedia article to have some valid and illuminating points"

"By observing other societies it can bring clarity to our own."- Yes but we should be doing our own observing not allowing others to tell us in our culture what is important- it's a subtle point. This is what Bernays did in the 1940s when he sold mass manufactured products based on emotional manipulation and Freudism.

Yes I like your and his point about Capitalism vs Communism.

Did you understand my point about some players potentially "playing both sides against the middle"?

Apparently one can make toothpaste from baking soda/ powder if things get desperate enough.

There's a scene in The Good Shepherd movie that demonstrates the concept of The Hall Of Mirrors- when two people claim to be the same person- so extreme care needs to be exercised getting information from foreigners- without becoming paranoid. Foreign powers aim to distort the realities of their targets- even friendly ones. It's a subtle and probably boring concept.

There is an assumption that if one side lose their allies lose- but some players win whoever loses- this is playing the game at a different level.

Just don't forget that the West is not the west it was during the cold war, there's a new West now with new players & new rules & new agenda !