Everyone needs to stick to supporting Ukraine in whatever it decides to do in defending its territory from the most recent invasion, and not be drawn on what happens in Crimea or back in Russia.
Yep.
Things that have not aged well.
Mickey Rourke
Clint Erhlich
TWITTER.COM https://twitter.com/ClintEhrlich/status/1500029929148219396
It’s often asked why more of the wealthy and powerful in Russia don’t speak up against the war. Well, the Scripol’s and Litvinyenko (sp?) found out, and here’s another very clear example as to why:
Edit: link not working, it’s an NY Times article that’s paywalled, although I read the whole thing earlier!
Usually, revenge is a dish best served cold, as far as Russians are concerned, but not always.
@CountZero Was that the article about Oleg Tinkov being forced to sell his business and other stuff for about 3% of it’s value and now being scared for his life as well?
So, if there is a Russian population in a state then Putin he as to annex it. Wikipedia tells me the 4th and 5th largest populations of ethic Russians are in the US and Germany.
@willard - yes, it was. I’d only seen one article about it, which I read through, but then it went paywall and the link wouldn’t work. Clearly shows just how vicious and utterly intolerant of any form of dissent Putin and his allies really are.
I’ve just read this piece about the artillery that is being delivered to Ukraine, it looks like the Russians are going to start feeling some heat in return, especially with the Ukrainians skill with drones for target spotting and their deeper knowledge of their own country.
TASKANDPURPOSE.COM @caher - I see your point, but it’s Ukraine in particular that Putin has a bug up his ass about, he keeps touting the lie that Ukraine is historically a crucial part of Russia belongs to Russia and has no right to exist as an independent territory, whereas Ukraine as a sovereign country existed long before Russia did. Ukraine was settled by Vikings, who had the name given to them the Rus - ‘they who build boats’, hence Russians. Kiev was a city 1000 years ago, long before Moscow existed.
One thing to remember about the fires in Russia is that it is a pretty large country and there will be quite a lot of accidental fires there everyday in normal times. Obviously, many of the fires near the Ukraine border are the result of attacks, but some fires will genuinely be accidents. Others may be insurance jobs or corrupt managers destroying factories or warehouses to hide the fact that all the stock they show on their books was stolen.
Including this one?
NEWSWEEK.COM Including this one?
I would love to know the story behind that one.
Going for broke with Israel now... What on earth do they hope to achieve with that?!
With the diplomats heading back to Kiev, I wonder what would happen if one of the foreign embassies there was 'accidentally' bombed by the Russians, as happened to the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade courtesy of the US in 1999?
VICE.COM Article on the harshness of life for Russian conscripts
Over the recent New Year’s holidays, Private Andrei Sychyov’s superiors tied him to a chair and beat him continuously for hours and hours, taking breaks only to sustain their drinking binge. When it was over, Sychyov was told not to say a peep. He didn’t complain, and the doctors who examined him reported that he was fine. A few days later, gangrene appeared in his most badly beaten areas. He was rescued from death only by having both legs and his genitalia amputated.
Going for broke with Israel now… What on earth do they hope to achieve with that?!
Why, what's happened?
I should have been more nuanced but I'm overly busy today, sorry.
Lavrov's statements about Hitler being part Jewish, and that Jews aided the Nazis.
THEGUARDIAN.COM *sigh*
There's a difference between being nuanced and letting people know what you are talking about. Not everyone is reading the same article as you
I disagree.
Firstly you likely are reading the grauniad, secondly, I think it's better if you research yourself and draw your own conclusions when you hear something.
Well I didn't know what you were talking about either.
I'll try to be more helpful and clear in future.
CITYAM.COM Who are "City AM"?
Reputable news source???
Japan military KC2 transport on the ground in Poland near the Ukraine border this afternoon.
The more countries who get involved the better as it will eventually turn from a slow retreat to hold and counter attack when enougj hardware arrives.
Interesting though. I mean we like to imagine someone just pulling a revolver, but a good old fashioned coup has to be a real possibility, surely? Especially if top army brass keep getting sent in to be blown up.
but a good old fashioned coup has to be a real possibility, surely?
So far the military, luckily, havent exactly come across as overly competent. The KGB or whatever they are called now have their own paramilitary and special forces units so question is whether Putin has managed to avoid having their money diverted so they remain competent.
The problem with a coup is your replacements will be the criminal element who want the money tree to start pumping out $$$$
Again.
Abramovich? I can see the west just about tolerating him
theres reports circulating he's (Putin) going to be having cancer surgery soon.
I've never understood how an outlet with so many resources can produce so much utter nonsense.
I suspect the Coup rumours are western or Ukrainian sourced in an attempt to cause disarray/mistrust within the Kremlin.
As far as I'm aware City AM is a london centric business newspaper with hard copy circulation limited to that locale. Been referenced on this forum quite a lot over the years.
I suspect the Coup rumours are western or Ukrainian sourced in an attempt to cause disarray/mistrust within the Kremlin.
Yes, NATO and Ukraine have been trolling Russia with intelligence dumps. Some of them were real, such as revealing the invasion plans before the invasion. I think stories about potential coup attempts are probably just to make Putin unsure about who he can trust, he'll probably purge a bunch of people just to be on the safe side. That will destabilize his military and intelligence services.
Fair play then, all part of the information war.
So how do we think Russia’s eastern campaign is going? This was supposed to be a big offensive. But aside from some gains at Izium, it doesn’t seem to be happening. Indeed, they are loosing ground in the north east near Kharkiv. Will the incremental Russian gains slowly win out? Or will the Russian morale break first? Will Russia declare “war” and perform a general mobilisation?
Will the incremental Russian gains slowly win out?
Any gains the Russians have made have been totally piecemeal. Compare the map of say 29th or 30th February (a couple of days after the start of their offensive) and to now, and they essentially haven't changed. If they couldn't do it when they had all their equipment and fresh troops in place, they're unlikely to make a breakthrough now several months, and Generals down the line.
The unknown is what state the Ukrainians are really in. But information on that is well hidden in western sources, and anything from pro Russian that "might" be true is buried under an avalanche of obvious bullshit and whatever dross Serging Lavatory has spewed forth.
BBC live feed reporting Oil imports to the EU to cease by the end of this year. Gas not decided.
EU to ban Russian oil - but no consensus on gasEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has just laid out details of another package of sanctions against Russia to be agreed by EU countries in the coming days.
Von der Leyen said the bloc was ending its dependency on Russian oil - with purchases banned by the end of the year.
She acknowledged that it would not be easy, as some countries were dependent on such imports.
Hungary has opposed an embargo on Russian fuels.
Al Jazeera have a piece looking at both Global and Russian oil production and exports
Will Russia declare “war” and perform a general mobilisation?
How would that really help?
A load of poorly trained conscripts thrown into the fight?
BBC live feed reporting Oil imports to the EU to cease by the end of this year.
Oil price crashes is what more or less did for the old communist regime. I wonder if history will repeat itself? While I doubt there'd be anything like a coup against Putin happening any time soon, there must be people in the regime at a reasonably high level who can see this shit show for what it is?
It's going to go down to numbers of people getting killed if Russian boys/soldiers have to be killed at a rate of 10/1 then sadly I think Putin will be ok with it. Ukraine must be taking casualties.
Russia won't win but wars are seldom won in conflict sadly the Taliban are still around and getting stronger but that's a different thread altogether.
Good news is people have got out of Mariupol.
Bad news is missiles landing on Lviv and Belarus began sudden large-scale drills.
APNEWS.COM For you link lovers
I think stories about potential coup attempts are probably just to make Putin unsure about who he can trust,
I would imagine that, like Caesar, when you are in a position like Putin's you are always watching your back.
So how do we think Russia’s eastern campaign is going?
It seems to be going badly. They've thrown everything they have at Ukraine and have advanced a few kilometers but lost hundreds of tanks and other vehicles, plus probably thousands of soldiers. At this rate of losses, they won't be able to mount any further offensive actions until they rebuild their army with properly trained soldiers and refurbished equipment. That would take months in peacetime conditions. In wartime, with economic sanctions, years will be more realistic.
On top of that, Ukraine has been employing black magic. That's going to be hard to beat with conventional weapons.
You mean like.. empty chocolate boxes or something?
Finnish-led consortium Fennovoima said on Monday it has terminated a contract with Russian group Rosatom to build Finland's third nuclear power plant, citing risks linked to the Ukraine war.
7.5 billion euro contract
Rosatom said it was surprised by the announcement."The reasons for such a decision are completely incomprehensible,"
LOL.
Kamil Galeevs threads explain a lot
Thread 21 for why Nalvany is not really a great option
Thread 26 for whats happening now and why the corruption will be perpetuated
Compare the map of say 29th or 30th February
I'm calling fake news! 🤣
7.5 billion euro contract
Rosatom said it was surprised by the announcement.
“The reasons for such a decision are completely incomprehensible,”
must've forgotten the threat to nuke Finland if they joined Nato!
A Russian built nuclear power station on your territory, sounds like a really bad idea! Wouldn’t put it past them to build a cyber back door, for nuclear blackmail.
I’m calling fake news!
hahah, yes!! worthy of Russian bots.
lots of speculation about big announcements on the 9th of May - ranging from full declaration of war to victory. I can't see them declaring victory with maripol still holding out.
