Mathematicians Protest Russia Hosting Major Conference (scientificamerican.com) 69
As Ukrainian researchers have feared for their lives and careers after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mathematicians have been grappling over what to do about a prominent mathematical conference that was set to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in July. From a report: The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is "the largest and most significant conference on pure and applied mathematics as well as one of the world's oldest scientific congresses," according to the Web site of the 2022 conference. The meeting, which is run by the Germany-based International Mathematical Union (IMU), is held only once every four years. When the nine-day 2018 ICM was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it drew 10,506 attendees.
On Saturday conference organizers announced the event would be fully virtual and hosted outside of Russia this year. The executive committee of the meeting released a statement saying, "We strongly condemn the actions by Russia. Our deepest sympathy goes to our Ukrainian colleagues and the Ukrainian people. Given this situation, it is impossible for the IMU to host the ICM and the GA [general assembly] as traditional in-person events in Russia." The Fields Medal -- one of the most prestigious honors in mathematics -- is traditionally awarded at the event. According to the recent decision, this year's prize ceremony and general assembly will be held in person but at an undecided location outside of Russia.
On Saturday conference organizers announced the event would be fully virtual and hosted outside of Russia this year. The executive committee of the meeting released a statement saying, "We strongly condemn the actions by Russia. Our deepest sympathy goes to our Ukrainian colleagues and the Ukrainian people. Given this situation, it is impossible for the IMU to host the ICM and the GA [general assembly] as traditional in-person events in Russia." The Fields Medal -- one of the most prestigious honors in mathematics -- is traditionally awarded at the event. According to the recent decision, this year's prize ceremony and general assembly will be held in person but at an undecided location outside of Russia.
That's logical. (Score:2)
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Didn't China just host the Olympics?
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The only thing that interests the IOC is how much money it makes.
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Didn't China just host the Olympics?
China didn't just invade a sovereign country in a war of conquest.
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The concern is that once they're confident that no one will do a thing to stop them, China will likely take Taiwan.
China is watching carefully to estimate whether the West will appease or oppose China if they invade Taiwan. There are two significant differences compared to Russia that China needs to grapple with. First, China presents a plausible large economy that can sidestep Western economic sanctions. China would be completely alone with economic sanctions because Russia will be of no help. Second, the much larger China population will be scary for the CCP to control if the Chinese economy crashes. In that case
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Fox is mainly talking about what a terrible job Biden is doing. It's functioning a boor.
Ayway, Tucker blabbered like a weasel the day after he said who cares, trying to correct himself after reactions of outrage.
Re: Do the math - Russia is a shithole (Score:5, Informative)
More than that, he said he supports Russia. He tried to backtrack later saying that he was joking, but it really doesn't seem like he was to me. The way he said it was pretty matter-of-fact. I think he retracted it more out of concern for losing sponsors.
Re: Do the math - Russia is a shithole (Score:4, Informative)
Carlson's exact words: "Why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which I am."
He said this on-air, on Monday, Nov 22.
It has been documented by multiple news streams, and if you can find a recording of the show you can watch it for yourself.
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It's pretty unambiguous.
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A definite boundary has to be drawn between the Russian people, and their current government. The sanctions imposed on Russia are already harming the people of Russia, which I don't suppose was the intended effect, if the target is the government of Russia, and Putin in particular. The so-called oligarchs, or pirates as I prefer to call them, no doubt have their loot safely tucked away in secret offshore accounts.
In short, I support the people of Russia, because they are victims of their kleptocratic govern
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"allowiing" Putin to remain in power???
Like he holds onto his position through fair and free elections or something?
Or is it that you just think that assassinating such a political figure is supposed to besomehow easy?
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OK. This may be the result of my brain trying to divide by zero, because, in general, I'm not the kind of person who feels the inclination to kill anyone.
But, if I have to choose between killing one mass murderer, versus allowing him to murder anywhere between thousands and billions of relative innocents?
It doesn't seem to me like that hard of a choice.
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I think the idea is that the rank and file people of the government, including the soldiers, etc, will also get affected. Presumably the idea is that they will try and do something about it, together with the rest of the citizens, who are also being harmed.
It's not like Putin can nuke Russia if the Russian people rise against him. At least I dont think he will.
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There is always some hope that the people of Russia will get fed up with being ruled by pirates, and rise up against their current rulers. However, evidence from other dictatorships indicates that protests and insurrections are ruthlessly suppressed. See Tianenmen Square.
I don't know what would happen if sections of the Russian military were to mutiny, if ordered to use inhumane methods against the people of Ukraine. That kind of mutiny did not occur in the Nazi army, when soldiers were ordered to slaughter
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I agree.
"Hurt civilians so they will get rid of their government" is both unrealistic, and also a recipe for total war and/or genocide.
"Hurt the government even though it might hurt civilians also" would be at least a little more defensible.
But we really should find ways to hurt or even take down rogue "governments" WITHOUT any avoidable harm to civilians.
If people in charge really cared about trying to prevent war, they would find ways to accomplish their goals without waging it. Or at the very least, the
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He's allowed to have changed his mind.
I myself was a lot more pro-Russia before they started to shell and then besiege innocent Ukrainian civilians.
Now, I hope Russia's leadership either puts down Putin with extreme prejudice, or else gets put down in similar fashion themselves.
Any friend of humanity must be at enmity with anyone who purposefully destroys it.
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I support Mongolia. Putin argues about historical borders, and Mongolia historically encompassed much of Russia and most of China.
Bring on the hordes!
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HIstorically, what is now the USA was once part of the British Empire.
Just something for Americans who support Putin to think about...
Re: Do the math - Russia is a shithole (Score:5, Informative)
The guy standing up to Russia in Ukraine is the same guy Trump was impeached (the first time) for withholding military aid to.
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The guy standing up to Russia in Ukraine is the same guy Trump was impeached (the first time) for withholding military aid to.
And the same guy who played fighting government corruption on TV before being elected president. As an American, I’m really jealous at the quality of their made for TV leaders. “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition...” is worthy of a Rainier Wolfcastle quote.
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His skills are absolutely not to be underestimated.
https://youtu.be/kgOSrw9Q8rc [youtu.be]
Slava Ukraini!
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You're suggesting that Putin is more aggressive now that he doesn't have a sycophantic pawn in the whitehouse, and we should appease him by putting the world's democracies under his control? The guy standing up to Russia in Ukraine is the same guy Trump was impeached (the first time) for withholding military aid to.
Yes, yes, I get it. Putin invading Ukraine the first time while a Democrat was in White House, then deciding he'd better wait out the Republican, then invading again with Democrat - that's all just a secret ploy to make democrats look bad!
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It's more like he thought his admirer Trump would get re-elected, continue to undermine NATO/EU, then hand him Ukraine on a silver platter, you mean?
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It's more like he thought his admirer Trump would get re-elected, continue to undermine NATO/EU, then hand him Ukraine on a silver platter, you mean?
You mean like Bidet did, by openly stating that NATO won't do military intervention if Putin invades?
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Like that was some kind of secret? (Only to those who know absolutely nothing about NATO.)
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That doesn't make the pressure bad.
Definition of treason (Score:1)
How will Fox News praise America's foreign adversaries now that they crashed their economy as Fox's treasonous hosts cheered them on?
Probably by condemning the Ukraine invasion, as they have repeatedly done, and suggesting that the US not send our troops to help defend Ukraine, as they have repeatedly done(*).
Also, probably by pointing out some of the genius moves Putin has made, such as getting Europe dependent on a Russian gas line, and selling Russian oil to the US as a way to finance the operation.
You can frame Putin's smart moves as cheering on the adversaries, or you could also frame it as stupid moves made by our (and the EU) admi
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Nor will NATO/the world helping Ukraine lead to nuclear war.
I wouldn't be too sure about that.
Re: Definition of treason (Score:2)
I don't think Putin would. He may have demonstrated both Russia's and his own sheer incompetence in the last week, but he's not stupid enough to use nuclear weapons unless you really back him into a corner. He knows that even his most staunch allies wouldn't and couldn't if he did, except maybe Belarus, but they're less an ally and more of an unofficial Russian province. We already have plenty of justification for invading Russia and demanding nothing less than an unconditional surrender to hold Putin and h
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"Jesus fucking Christ you leftists are too stupid to live." Spoken by a true follower of a stable genius. To rephrase what you wrote "I don't agree with you so you should die." I guess authoritarian rot flows from the head.
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There exist a handful of self-described leftists who do not advocate the use of force to rob, enslave, and murder other human beings.
But, unfortunately, most do. Usually by proxy (government).
If we survive the current crisis, we will eventually have to deal with the fact that there can't be a lasting peace between those who think they are entitled to rob, enslave, and murder other people, and those who don't. I truly do hope we can find a peaceful way to do that. But historical examples of peaceful and s
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You are the type of person Tucker is warning us about. A leftist who is suddenly wanting to INVADE RUSSIA.
And you are a liar, because that's not what AD said.
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He is in a corner already. He may or may not realize it yet, but he grossly miscalculated, and now has both an unwinnable war on his hands, and also the near-universal condemnation of the rest of the world.
I don't see many options for a face-saving way out. He might not either.
That's why I think we are staring into the barrel of nuclear annihilation, although, obviously, I very much hope and pray that I'm wrong.
Some analyst? (Score:2)
Oh, if some random "strategic analyst" says so, I guess we can all sleep soundly. /sarc
You do realize that he's a former West Point Professor [wikipedia.org] with a Ph.D in Russian and Soviet military history, right?
I don't see the sarcasm here. What parts of Prof. Kagan's analysis do you disagree with?
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Also, probably by pointing out some of the genius moves Putin has made, such as getting Europe dependent on a Russian gas line, and selling Russian oil to the US as a way to finance the operation.
Yeah, the guy's a genius. I don't know of another miliarty operation that, while outnumbering the opponent 5-fold on land and 20-fold in the air. (And Ukraine doesn't have a navy), is seeing an invasion stall after 1 week with shortages of fuel and food.
With that kind of genius in control of the world's biggest nuclear arsenal, citizens of Moscow should be fleeing an accidental self-strike.
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Saying the invasion has "stalled" is overstating the situation.
The Russians are behind schedule but still advancing on several fronts. News sites report that Kherson, a city on the Black Sea coast, was captured by Russian troops yesterday.
Logistical difficulties are expected during an offensive, especially when an army has no recent combat experience.
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So you know what their schedule is then?
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They control less land now than when you wrote that.
Feared Chechen warlord Magomed Tushayev was killed, along with most of his followers, in Hostomel.
Maj. gen. Andrey Sukhovetskiy, a Spetsnaz commander and deputy chief of the 41 Army, has been killed.
Russia has 80% of the forces they deployed to the Ukrainian border inside the country, and all they can manage is to bomb apartment blocks, Holocaust Memorials, children's hospitals, and gas pipelines originating in Russia.
They're losing hardware at a 4-to-1 ra
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One other problem Die Fuhrer has, his disregard for his own troops. Apparently, a fair number of them are not willingly fighting. And some have reported being told they were merely going to the border and never told they'd be part of an invasion.
It seems typical of authoritarian nutcases. They seem to think that the same "go out kill them" attitude they have is going to be blindly instilled in their militaries. A Syrian rebel general gave some unsolicited advice to the Ukrainians, although he said they didn
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I don't know how they'd get there (Score:4, Interesting)
Traveling into an embargoed nation while not impossible would be difficult. We'd need a mathematician to calculate the probability of making it to St. Petersburg when no airlines can fly there, and Aeroflot has been banned from most airspaces. I guess you could fly via China or some other non-embargoing nation or take the Trans-Siberian railway to Moscow and then go from there. Now getting back into your own country after you visited may be another matter especially if your nation has embargoed travel to Russia.
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Now getting back into your own country after you visited may be another matter
Under international law, it is illegal for any country to deny entry to its own citizens.
If a citizen has committed a crime, they can be arrested at the border, but they can't be turned away.
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they can be arrested at the border, but they can't be turned away.
Excellent, good work, you've solved the problem. Simply arrest any of them stupid enough to go.
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Not sure how many flying fracks Russia gives about international law at this moment.
But, IIRC, several countries have denied re-entry to their own citizens in the recent past due to their "vaccination" status.
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Gee, that'll be news to all the nations that prevented their citizens from returning due to COVID restrictions, like, say, Australia.
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Aeroflot is in really deep shit right now, I wouldn't even risk buying a ticket with them outside the areas they are banned from flying.
They now have a large number of aircraft that they can't get spare parts for, because the parts are made in Europe or the US. Even many of the Russia built aircraft use Western built engines, but even if they swapped them for Russian ones some of the parts in Russian built engines come from Europe.
They don't have access to European maintenance centres for their Airbus aircr
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That was my first thought - if you really, really want to go there, you absolutely can - but my goodness, it'll be like Around the World in 80 Days to get there.
No sensible person or organisation could ever let this conference go ahead. As an organiser you have a duty of care to your delegates, which on the basis of travel alone is pretty much cut to ribbons, say nothing of the risks of actually being there. How on earth do you call a cab to get from the airport to the hotel? How about buying dinner or a sn
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Land borders are often more porous than air borders. I've had to rely on that fact in order to visit a country in Eastern Europe in the past, which was in a state of undeclared civil war at the time. Scheduled air, bus, and rail service there had been suspended for safety reasons. It still proved possible to get in. All I had to do was to fly to a neighboring country, then hire a car and driver to cross over to my destination. I did have to go through the periphery of where there was some fighting, but
How is this a question? (Score:1)
If the conference cannot be moved, cancel it and re-schedule it for later.
Russia is a pariah. Until the oligarchs and/or people rid the world of the threat of nuclear WWIII that Putin's existence raises, the country should be shunned in every way.