Not to mention that a Ukraine that survives the war relatively intact will then be familiar with NATO-standard equipment and not particularly likely to want to buy things from Russia
Qing dynasty. I'm pretty sure this one is also the same as its territorial peak, but it's much harder to check due to the far longer history than the Mongol empire. Light green on this map is claims which were never actually controlled.
Spanish empire. This one is horrendously complicated since it includes the Iberian Union with Portugal and Portugal's colonies at the time, and also the Holy Roman Empire, southern Italy, and the Netherlands due to Charles V and the other Habsburgs. It also includes Louisiana (as in the area of the Louisiana Purchase, not the modern US state), as well as large claimed areas that were not meaningfully controlled like the interior of Brazil or the Pacific Northwest of North America. This is certainly the biggest proportional increase, with Louisiana alone putting it above the Qing dynasty, but I don't think it catches up to Russia.
In the context it's usually seen as a male given name for English-speakers, it does descend from Scottish Gaelic that later spread across the UK, so your instincts weren't wrong, just misplaced for this specific context
I'm an outsider looking in who's not particularly familiar with the structure of Taiwan's government, but apparently a coalition is possible but not required. The executive is appointed by the president, which is elected separately and still held by the DPP. The Kuomintang seemingly failed to negotiate a coalition with the third largest party, so now nobody has a majority in the legislature. Presumably anyone that proposes legislation will just need to get the agreement of one of the other parties to get anything done.
It was! I wasn't able to track down the original of this specific photo, but it's definitely taken from Gaztelugatxeko Doniene, a small 10th century hermitage that was digitally replaced with a big castle to serve as Dragonstone
My doubt is more over his "zombie" status than the medium in which his story is told! Shrike was made a zombie by technological means rather than magic or disease, so he doesn't fit in that regard. In terms of what it makes him - implacable, near-indestructible, seemingly inhuman, and in appearance a dead man wearing some funny armour - he fits the bill well.
We're gonna need some evidence that the first one was a NATO coup for that to be persuasive. Because frankly it is not that weird at all to me that a president suddenly and unilaterally making an enormous and unpopular shift in policy sparked large protests and opposition. Never mind that Ukrainians completely destroyed Yanukovych's party at the election only months afterwards. Never mind that Yanukovych fucking fled the country. Was Ukraine meant to just patiently wait for him to come back after he abandoned his post?
And yes, I have read the transcript of the Nuland-Pyatt call. It is not persuasive towards your claim of a NATO-backed coup. It shows that America wanted to influence who came to power afterwards, but it's very clearly reactive and not proactive. And I'm sorry, but negotiating with leaders of a movement to try to persuade them who they should work with is just not a coup.
The objective is only "fuck Russia" if by "fuck Russia" you mean "prevent Russia from violently stealing a bunch of stuff from another country". If that's what you mean, then yes, the objective is fuck Russia. If that's what "fuck Russia" means, Russia deserves to be fucked and brought it upon itself.
It costs the lives of many Ukrainian and Russian people
NATO has no leverage to make Ukraine keep fighting. If Ukraine decides it would rather capitulate, what is NATO going to do about it? The thing that is costing Ukrainian and Russian lives is Russia's attempted land grab. The deaths stop immediately if Russia just goes home.
I prefer at least some balance of power
We already have China. Russia can't play in the same league as America, it's not even close. The EU and China are pretty much the only entities that currently can. I could see India getting there reasonably soon.
Honestly I would expect that Germany's history is a reason that current German leadership would be inclined to back Israel even when it isn't a good move. The Jews weren't the only victims of the Holocaust, but they were the best known, and Germany wants to be seen supporting Jewish people today because it does not want to be the Germany of old. That doesn't make it right to back Israel's actions in Gaza, but it has reasoning to it
I'm suggesting that NATO should arm Ukraine to defend itself for so long as Ukraine wants to keep fighting.
But you clearly said that this was not about NATO. Which means there are no clear reasons since the stated reasons by Russia are a lie
No, it does not mean that. If Russia achieves its goals then it acquires millions of new citizens, a lot of the world's most fertile land, a very strategically valuable port (that it was leasing until recently), and the water supply for that port. These would all make Russia significantly more powerful.
Of course, I don't think that Russia deserves a goddamn thing out of any negotiations. Ideally the only negotiations will be how Russia will pay reparations to Ukraine. But again, it's not my place to tell Ukraine what to do. I just think that we should put Ukraine in a position to be able to decide for itself. If Ukraine decides to negotiate and accept some losses in order to end the war, that's Ukraine's call; the point is it has to be strong enough to be able to make the decision, not have it made for it by Russia.
I've seen this Boris Johnson argument several times on here and never once seen anything even remotely approaching a convincing explanation of what leverage Boris ever had to do this. Like a deal for a white peace with Russia was on the table and Boris somehow twisted Zelenskyy's arm into fighting by threatening to not send weapons that wouldn't be necessary if there was peace anyway?
If buying stuff from the other side is your yardstick, NATO clearly wasn't a threat to Russia. Germany, Italy, France, and America were all some of Russia's largest import sources in 2021.
I don't think I've ever suggested that Russia is acting randomly. I agree completely that Russia is acting in Russia's interests. I just don't think it follows from that that everyone else should just lie down and and let Russia do whatever it wants, so if countries that have the power and will to oppose Russia's morally objectionable actions wish to do so then good on them in my book.
Apparently the average UK adult defecates about 100g per day, and that's the first link that showed up so I'm going to go with the UK numbers in that one study. According to wikipedia there were 11,346 ascents as of July 2022. Assuming two weeks from base camp to summit and back, based on Tom Kilpatrick's article on The Manual, that means 1.4 kg of shit per climb for a total of almost 16 metric tonnes or 17.5 short tons
Not to mention that a Ukraine that survives the war relatively intact will then be familiar with NATO-standard equipment and not particularly likely to want to buy things from Russia