Putin content to pour as many tanks, soldiers and bombs as possible into the fight, if he's forced to negotiate a way out he will want maximum leverage.
Doesn't bode well for Ukrainians
Although it seems that UA making inroads at recapturing Kherson, (only city Russians have captured)
https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1504467522711552004?t=GCs0weNxN93c7FE7NZNJvA&s=19
Meanwhile Ukrainian grannies don't take shit
https://twitter.com/mrsorokaa/status/1503448592031363079?t=klVG5_0gPQaola4wAPTTbA&s=19
From reading the last two pages of this it seems Putin is doing an excellent job of slowly hanging himself.
putin is definitely NOT stupid - look at how he came to power and has stayed there for 20+ years, becoming ever more powerful and the wealthiest oerson in the world; until his Ukrainian misadventure everything he did went, generally, unchallenged by the west.
He came to believe he was invincible and completely misread how Ukraine- and the west - would respond; also over-estimated possible Chinese support.
A living example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Hubris.
Hold the party poppers, he's not dead and buried yet.
No wonder the Russians are surrendering - the universal power of grannies!!
I think Putin will only dig in harder now
The advances may be stalled but if they sit still they can still inflict huge amounts of damage as Ukrainians come to them.
Meanwhile Uzbekistan showing some definite testicular fortitude
https://twitter.com/b_nishanov/status/1504422639506534406?t=E9adyg2zE4gcFg5AdItRmA&s=19
mattyfez
Free MemberIt’s fun to make fun of putin, but he seriously can’t be as stupid as he seems, can he?
I very much doubt he's stupid. But even a powerful train can be on the wrong tracks. Smart people can believe they're smarter than everyone else- when they're wrong they can assume it's everyone else that's wrong and they're right. They can get too used to easy wins and believe themselves to be unbeatable. All sorts of things. Delusion and intelligence are two different things.
Hopefully he’ll get taken down from the inside.
with a frozen sausage
Well... after Sting saying he won't perform any more private gigs for Russian Oligarchs, now Bono has written a poem for the people of Ukraine
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1504492061684375560?s=20&t=ydXTnjmeseatOCLVu2sQ8A
The pressures on, for sure. No word of any specific action planned by Bob Geldof, as yet
No wonder the Russians are surrendering – the universal power of grannies!!
I was in Grozny in mid 90s and remember a bunch of said grannies haranguing a Russian tank that was dug in in the middle of the main road until they upped and left. I was more than a little bewildered and impressed with what had just happened
The pressures on, for sure. No word of any specific action planned by Bob Geldof, as yet
shit's gettin' real fo shu
shit’s gettin’ real fo shu
Not until James Blunt slams Putin on twitter.
Yeah, come on Blunt!
Talking about the meeting of celebrity and politics… someone post Arnie’s little message, it’s actually quite good. Hang on… I’ll find it…
Not until James Blunt slams Putin on twitter.
To be fair, James Blunt is supposed to have history of facing down the Russian army
To be fair, James Blunt is supposed to have history of facing down the Russian army
Tank commander IIRC
Is Putin stupid?
No but even very clever people are capable of very stupid decisions.
CVRT Scimitar - so not strictly a ‘tank’, more a light armoured reconnaissance vehicle…. Blunt that is.
Not until James Blunt slams Putin on twitter.
He's got a few targets...
https://twitter.com/JamesBlunt/status/1490785719664664576?s=20&t=ca6pt35bJ_t2fuTk91-aVA
That Arnie speech is quite something! Very impressed…
Here's a slightly different perspective:
Arnie. What a legend.
He does those emotive pieces to camera really well. Maybe he was a better actor than we gave him credit for?
I think he actually was (and is) a good actor. There was one film where they were all in some futuristic prison and he was the old lag who staged a diversion to allow the goodie to escape, and him screaming and ranting in German as they dragged him off was really memorable to me.
Here’s a slightly different perspective:
It just parrots Russian propaganda. There's just enough bits that are true to go along with the outright lies but it conveniently ignores all of Russia's prior involvement.
Yes, the idea that a peaceful democratic government was overthrown in 2014 by American finance comes straight out of the Kremlin’s alternative reality
Yeah, peppered with truths… but the bit about the presence of the Russian military facilitating a free vote almost stopped me reading. Made it to the end though. Nothing I haven’t read elsewhere, it’s a compilation of one sided accusations.
Arnie’s piece to camera was good wasn’t it… admitting recent problems in the USA, past atrocities in Europe (and his own family’s part in them), and filled with love and admiration for the people of Russia.
Some great posts on this thread again, really liked the Arnie piece to camera
Yes, the idea that a peaceful democratic government was overthrown in 2014 by American finance comes straight out of the Kremlin’s alternative reality
Since then there has been a democratic election which gave Zelenskyy and his party overwhelming majorities.
Anyone seen the footage HERE of the Russian tank ambushed in Mariupol?
@ 1:20 just as the smoke cleats a bag is thrown to the guy left agonising at the side of the road. What you think it is? First aid?
I thought this was interesting
Not pleasant to watch alpin.
Other than that, a lone tank wondering around an urban area with no infantry?
What on earth is Russia playing at, utterly symbolic.
It was taken out by the Azov battalion so I doubt that was a first aid kit...
Other than that, a lone tank wondering around an urban area with no infantry?
What on earth is Russia playing at
My thoughts too.
Sacrificial decoy?
Send one in, see what happens.
Took a wrong turning?
Trying to defect?
I thought this was interesting
Some of it. Tries too hard to make war “entertaining” to be comfortable watching for me. Perhaps that’s a culture clash as a non-USA watcher. Also claims we’re not being told lots of things that I already knew just from BBC and ITN(Channel4News) reporting… again, might be very different in the USA I suppose.
But some of his analysis is odd. Claiming that lack of air support north of Kyiv is just the Russians overlooking basics of using combined forces, or a communication failure, rather than even mentioning the possibility that the air cover isn’t there because of anti-air capabilities of those defending that area.
Oh, the pipeline back to Belerus stuff was very interesting. It’s going to be very vulnerable in places though, surely?
Task and Purpose is just a loud YouTuber who's hit it big since Russia started kicking off.
https://socialblade.com/youtube/channel/UCSq3p5NKEtyp5Rjd4ctiEbg
Any takers for this?
Why are companies, and individuals in professional settings, avoiding calling this a war? I’m seeing it on their PR, internal emails, talking to people.
Events in Ukraine
News from Ukraine
What’s happening in Ukraine
Situation in Ukraine
The mess in Ukraine
Due to Ukraine
I've since picked up "certain events going on in the world", "horrible world events".
Without links to actual examples we can’t try and answer the question due to a complete lack of context.
bikes - some people and organisations (in their public pronouncements) want to avoid uncomfortable truths.
The same approach is evident when using 'passed away' instead of died.
I'm sure there'll be views that this sort of behaviour 'respects sensitivities' but that's rubbish; it's an attempt to duck reality.
Just say it how it is.
No context required.
OK... Having read a bit about the footage it appears that the sack I referred to is likely a torso thrown from the second tank that was attacked.... Delete if necessary.
Yes, I think it's best to not post any combat videos at all. A week or two back an analyst on Twitter pointed out that the drone footage of tanks blowing up (or the helicopter shootdown) are deliberate ambushes, that's why the drone was sitting there with the camera running. When you see the spectacular videos of the tanks exploding, that means that the crew inside have been incinerated alive, so you're basically watching a snuff propaganda video. Once I had that pointed out to me, I realized it was best to not post any combat videos, even if corpses weren't visible.
The truth is gradually filtering back to Russia, it's just too big to hide.
Hence his rather brutal warning issued yesterday. He is now seeing his own people as the enemy too. Well, he always did really.
Epic paranoia on display.
