I'm not sure that's true. Operating in a radioactive environment makes every single task so much harder. When Russia can barely afford the time to teach its recruits how to shoot, how could they possibly spare the time to teach them how to manage radioactive contamination?
In this case "nobody can have it" is effectively the same as "we have it" in terms of keeping NATO at a further distance from the important parts of the federation. Or whatever the Kremlin justification is these days.
If by "the same thing" you mean that Ukraine has requested the assistance of its allies to avoid being being coerced by Russia, then yes the same thing is happening. Why exactly would that be bad?
American consultants were instrumental in organizing the massive selloff of state assets, and quite a few of them turned around and used their knowledge of the system they created to become quite rich. Andrei Shleifer said as much in an interview on the topic, though I can't find it now.
edit: it seems like someone else posted the same link while I was looking for the interview.
It has everything to do with Ukraine. The low gas storage levels were engineered to create additional leverage over European countries during the upcoming invasion.
"The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that 50 percent of the deficit in European storages was due to the depletion of Gazprom-owned storages, despite the fact that Gazprom only owned 10 percent of European storages. This rapid draining of storages left European gas storage dangerously low at the height of winter, increased market panic, and further inflated gas prices."
Tyson once said on twitter “An airplane whose engine fails is a glider. A helicopter whose engine fails is a brick.” Now it's not at all obvious why that's not true. But that's why it's important to be humble about what you do and don't know.
In case anyone else is interested in the not-at-all-obvious-answer [1], I’ll save you the google: autorotation
> Autorotation is the ability of a helicopter to in some situations have its rotors powered by the flow of air rather than the engine. In short, as the helicopter descends, the upward directed flow of air pushes through the rotors, makes them rotate faster, which in turn provides lift.
a helicopter can "glide down" just like an airplane. if your engine fails, with the aid of the rotor as you descend you can turn the potential energy of being up in the air into forward motion, and that forward motion will generate lift over your rotor blades. You practice these techniques as part of getting a license.
> I cannot name a single "expert" who has attempted to calm people at all.
That's odd, because here are some excerpts from President Biden's remarks on covid [1].
"THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, my fellow Americans. I want to talk to you about where we are in the battle against COVID-19, the progress we’ve made, and the work we have left to do.
And it starts with understanding this: Even as the Delta variant 19 [sic] has — COVID-19 — has been hitting this country hard, we have the tools to combat the virus, if we can come together as a country and use those tools.
If we raise our vaccination rate, protect ourselves and others with masking and expanded testing, and identify people who are infected, we can and we will turn the tide on COVID-19.
...
So, let me speak to you directly. Let me speak to you directly to help ease some of your worries.
...
We know that if schools follow the science and implement the safety measures — like testing, masking, adequate ventilation systems that we provided the money for, social distancing, and vaccinations — then children can be safe from COVID-19 in schools."
And here are some from a recent press briefing [2] by the COVID response team:
"MR. ZIENTS: Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. In a moment, I’ll turn to Drs. Walensky, Fauci, and Murthy.
I’ll start by discussing the progress we’re making on testing, vaccination, and boosters — three critical parts of the President’s six-point plan to accelerate our path out of the pandemic.
First, testing: In the past few months, testing has increased, particularly at-home testing — a convenient option that came to market earlier this year.
To meet this increased demand, the President’s plan ramps up both the availability of tests and access to free testing. In just a matter of weeks, we’ve made significant progress on both fronts.
...
I’ll close with this: We’ve made tremendous progress over the past eight months, and we are executing well against the President’s six-point plan. We’re on the right track, but we need everyone to do their part."
The experts are saying "stay strong and we'll get through this". Meanwhile you are talking about how wearing a piece of cloth on your face is "human rights crushing crap" like we're one step away from the death camps. How is that calming anyone down? And who exactly do you mean when you say "them" anyway? It's a really worrying sign when "they" are always doing all these nefarious things just to frighten and control people. Do you know many in your life who acts that way? If not, why do you imagine that "they" are any different from the people you know? Where do you think "they" live? What do "they" want to do when "they" get home from work today? Do you think "they" read to their children before "they" tuck them in at night?
Naw. That doesn’t address anything. For one thing it says kids are at risk, which they aren’t. That entire speech is pure fearmongering. It says “everybody, this is Space Ebola. Remain frightened.”
It doesn’t highlight anything. It’s just doomsday nonsense and is yet another example of exactly what I’m talking about.
Covid isn’t space aids. It’s a damn respiratory virus. The vast majority who get it recover. It’s a non event for kids. These are facts backed by solid data. President didn’t state that at all.
And gaslighting about a “piece of cloth” is another example. It’s a “piece of cloth” that doesn’t do a damn thing besides divide people. Masks should never have been raised to the pedestal they were raised to. It’s people acting like they have some kind of moral high ground when they occupy anything but.
> population group x seems to be the source of this wealth
Here's a fun thought experiment - if Jeff Bezos (actually Andy Jassy nowadays, but that just proves my point further) suddenly vanished, how many orders would fail to be delivered tomorrow as a result? Literally none. Now suppose everybody else working at Amazon disappeared instead. What happens? The company ceases to meaningfully exist. So who really created that wealth?
Actually, the answer to your question is 100% of packages will be missing.
Jeff Bezos (and I’m no fan) the hungry entrepreneur only went through the massive life disruption of starting a company because of the possibility that he might one day become Jeff Bezos the (m/b)illionaire.
Take that juicy end state away and suddenly you’ll have nobody willing to go through the decades of hell it takes to create these big companies.
> nobody willing to go through the decades of hell
Nonsense, Jeff Bozos has never been through "hell", since he only started Amazon with the help of venture capital. It was more work than a normal job, yes, but was not torture nor even something he disliked doing.
