Ukraine

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

I’m not much of a drinker, but if it’s all going to **** I might want a few stiff drinks first so I don’t blame them.

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

Pretty sensible really, sugar has a high calorific value, long life and can be turned into a lot of different type of foods with other long life ingredients.

Also saw the news that the White House have released a statement correcting what Biden said, which gives an indication that there is some workable deal being thought out to end this invasion!

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

I panic-bought some icing sugar when the first lockdown was announced, the idea of isolating with no cake didn’t bare thinking about!

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

Takes me back to when I worked in Saudi.

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

As mentioned above, it has high calorific value. Also, in the videos the those fighting over it are older people; they remember the USSR. When there’s nothing in the shops you need to preserve every strawberry, tomato and cucumber you can grow at your dacha. Sugar, salt and vinegar are hugely valuable if your economy is properly screwed. Bog roll is the least of your worries!

I’m reading this at the moment – lots of stories of grandmas that stashed sugar and buckwheat etc around the apartment, in case the bad times came back. For Russians, memories of famine and existential hunger are closer than we in western Europe often realise. Even in the 90s there was subsistence farming in some parts.

Some interesting claims emerging as Russia attempts to redraw country borders based on thier view of history – is this the sharks circling?

If you were a country part occupied by Russia, at any point over the last couple of hundred years, now would be a strategic time to seek to ‘correct’ things.

https://mobile.twitter.com/militaryhistori/status/1508152947913502732

I’m not sure that Russia has much to worry about on that front.

Admittedly they’ll struggle to hold on to what they’ve taken so far, but sunny see any country mad enough to invade them.

Putin is getting a bloody nose, tho

Probably Ukraine’s most significant counter-offensive success so far: retaking the city of Trostyanets yesterday and unblocking the resupply road from the besieged regional capital Sumy to Poltava. That leaves only one regional capital, Chernihiv, encircled. (? via Sumy Gov.) pic.twitter.com/ZLzm5q4LLl

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) March 27, 2022

When it hits the fan in Russia they panic-buy sugar – why do you think they want that so bad ..?

No no no, you see sugar is what you need to make your own “vodka” called Samogen.

“In rural Russia may many people drink “samogon”, Russian moonshine or white lightning. “Samogon” literally means “run by myself,” a reference to its production process. Samogen consumption increased dramatically after Gorbachev launched his anti-vodka campaign and increased further after the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, when production was legalized but selling it wasn’t. As living standards dropped, people found they could more bang for their buck by drinking samogen than vodka. By 1994, samogen accounted for one of every six drinks consumed in Russia.

Samogen can be made from use tea, milk, bread, rice, potatoes, beet roots and even wooden stools and generally has a potency of between 30 and 50 proof. A typical samogen recipe calls for 100 grams of yeast, 10 kilograms of sugar, 4 liters of fresh milk, and 40 liters of water to be mixed in a washing machines for two hours and then distilled in stove-top vat connected to a pipe that spirals into a bucket.”

https://factsanddetails.com/russia/People_and_Life/sub9_2g/entry-5020.html

Lots of poor sods over there go blind over the home grown stuff too, as the ethanol (I think?) isn’t always removed properly.

Sugar riot

As sugar becomes deficit, incentives to steal and stock it rise exponentially. Here you supermarket workers stealing sugar from its stocks and loading into a car trunk. A woman is commenting:

"That's why they don't have sugar on shelves" pic.twitter.com/vrjFwxypao

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) March 26, 2022

That thread is interesting.

Basically says Russia will pull itself apart with people still supporting Putin.

Military machine needs foreign parts and foreign machine tools so grinds to a halt.

People look to and blame local government for shortages of food and everything.

Local government stockpiles and stops trading with other localities.

People go hungry because they don’t know how to subsistence farm anymore.

Political change happens, but its the end of Russia as we know it.

Lots of poor sods over there go blind over the home grown stuff too, as the ethanol (I think?) isn’t always removed properly.

Methanol is the problem, ethanol is the bit you want to keep. There is a web page all about it! (Just found it, no idea if it is talking sense or not.)

wzzzz
Free Member
That thread is interesting.

Basically says Russia will pull itself apart with people still supporting Putin.

Was a good read want it? Effectively in a globalised world, having much of the world turn their back on you royally ***** you up.

Globalisation will break Russia. It’s kind of like an extreme Brexit bit one that’s imposed on you by other countries!😉

You can build a tank… apart from the fact you can’t get tiny, seemingly insignificant parts such as bearings for it. Just a few components mate difficult to get our build at home and no now tanks.

(The tanks could equally be cars, gas cookers, fridges…. You name it.)

However bad methanol is, it’s better than their home made ‘opiates’.
Krokodil originated in Russia and it’s horrific.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/krokodil-the-drug-that-eats-junkies-2300787.html

If the UA can keep on pushing the ruskis back and retake a couple of other towns then maybe a settlement can be done.
Would Putin offer up decades of oil and gas to Ukraine as compensation for flattening entire towns? They could re sell on the open market to get instant capital comimg in.
Russia does not need the income as no one will sell them anything anymore.
Then all commodities have to be imported via Ukraine and there will be a special handling tax for that.

Thus increasing gdp for Ukraine, getting access to oil and gas and giving the Ukraine gov some cash to spend with eu builders willing to build towms.

So giving the ua alot more hardware isn’t a bad idea at all.
Lets face it, itts unlikely after this debacle the Russian army will attempt to imvade Moldova eg. So the uk is very unlikely to need new tanks, rockets and apc

Here’s a very interesting article I read earlier about Aerorozvidka, the small unit of IT and drone operators who’ve been using hit and run tactics with drones and quads at night to disrupt the Russian convoys; it was them who stopped the 40-mile convoy in its tracks, quite literally.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/the-drone-operators-who-halted-the-russian-armoured-vehicles-heading-for-kyiv

Because they’re not officially part of the Ukrainian military structure, they don’t get the help they need for equipment, much of which they build themselves, so they’re crowdfunding for funds to get the parts, which are often from the US and Canada, which have export embargoes placed on what’s needed, so they have to enlist the help of friends abroad to try to get essential parts across the border.

Their Facebook page is well worth a look as well…

https://www.facebook.com/aerorozvidka

Maybe they could start selling merchandise to help raise funds, their unit patch is pretty cool.

Bellingcat can confirm that three members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022 experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons. One of victims was Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich. https://t.co/DJaZ4CoL8J

— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022

That (paywalled) WSJ article : https://www.wsj.com/articles/roman-abramovich-and-ukrainian-peace-negotiators-suffer-symptoms-of-suspected-poisoning-11648480493

That cannot be true. If so it’s a new low in Putins war and it’s already at lower than a snakes belly low.

I am calling “not by the hair on Jimmy Hills chinny chin chin” on Abramovich being poisoned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60904676
Beeb are running it

Beeb run any old shit that is on twitter these days, doesn’t mean it is verified to be true.

Here’s a very interesting article I read earlier about Aerorozvidka, the small unit of IT and drone operators who’ve been using hit and run tactics with drones and quads at night to disrupt the Russian convoys; it was them who stopped the 40-mile convoy in its tracks, quite literally.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/the-drone-operators-who-halted-the-russian-armoured-vehicles-heading-for-kyiv

Because they’re not officially part of the Ukrainian military structure, they don’t get the help they need for equipment, much of which they build themselves, so they’re crowdfunding for funds to get the parts, which are often from the US and Canada, which have export embargoes placed on what’s needed, so they have to enlist the help of friends abroad to try to get essential parts across the border.

Their Facebook page is well worth a look as well…

https://www.facebook.com/aerorozvidka

Maybe they could start selling merchandise to help raise funds, their unit patch is pretty cool.

Posted 5 hours ago

My favourite story so far!

Suggestion is that it was ‘hardliners’ who want the war to continue, so may not be Putin per se. Lots of stuff appears on Twitter that never appears on the Beeb, and there is usually a delay of some hours between stuff appearing on Twitter and making it onto the Beeb, which I usually take to mean some element of verification is taking place.

I am calling “not by the hair on Jimmy Hills chinny chin chin” on Abramovich being poisoned.

Beeb run any old shit that is on twitter these days, doesn’t mean it is verified to be true.

I would suggest that it might be quite difficult for the BBC, or anyone else other than the doctors who examined them to verify that it is true.  A quick glance though shows Reuters, Al Jazeera, the Washington post and probably many others reporting the same story.  I’m just wondering what your inside info is that allows you to denounce the veracity of this so stridently?

I’m just wondering what your inside info is that allows you to denounce the veracity of this so stridently?

Sandra on facebook said it wasn’t so…..

Beeb run any old shit that is on twitter these days, doesn’t mean it is verified to be true.

The Beeb don’t run anything until they’ve checked two sources*, having been burned before. Hence why they are rarely first to go public with breaking news

* I don’t know if Twitter and Instagram count as two sources.

If the UA can keep on pushing the ruskis back and retake a couple of other towns then maybe a settlement can be done.

I’m unconvinced the ground regained by Ukraine is as significant as some sources suggest.

The Beeb don’t run anything until they’ve checked two sources*, having been burned before. Hence why they are rarely first to go public with breaking news

* I don’t know if Twitter and Instagram count as two sources.

Seeing as the story they run isn’t that Abramovich has been poisoned, but that the WSJ reported that Abramovich has been poisoned, Then all they have to verify is that the WSJ published the story.

And I am not making excuses for Putin or any of that shit, just that this story pinged my credibility meter. I think it far more likely that Abramovich just wants to paint himself as a victim, due to the impact sanctions are having on him, and hope he can get sympathy from western governments. And lets face it the WSJ is embedded journalism for billionaires and oligarchs.

Beeb run any old shit that is on twitter these days, doesn’t mean it is verified to be true.

Easy to say, when you don’t have to verify anything

I think it far more likely that Abramovich just wants to paint himself as a victim, due to the impact sanctions are having on him, and hope he can get sympathy from western governments.

He is insignificant in the current situation. Only one person decides and that’s Putin and Russia.

Only one person decides and that’s Putin and Russia.

That’s 144,000,000 people!

Only one person decides and that’s Putin and Russia.

FTFY

Would Putin offer up decades of oil and gas to Ukraine as compensation for flattening entire towns? They could re sell on the open market to get instant capital comimg in.
Russia does not need the income as no one will sell them anything anymore.

I think, deep down – what has driven Putin to the position he’s in is he’s embarrassed by Ukraine. Ukrainians – post break up of the  USSR enjoy a much better quality of life the Russians do – and given that Putin has been leader for 2/3rds of time – thats largely his fault. Russia has been stagnating while all former Warsaw Pact countries blossom – as for not needing the income? A third of its economy comes from exports.

Making things worse in Ukraine is the whole point – if he wanted Ukraine to be a valuable asset to Russia he wouldn’t be reducing it to rubble – this isn’t empire building its spite. When this is over he’s not going to play a part in making reparations – making things better – the whole point is to make things worse.

Putin previously used polonium on British soil

A poison that uniquely left a trail that could & would be traced back to Russia

I dont think there’s anything out I f bounds on that front for Putin

I don’t think Putin planned to flatten cities, he thought he could just change the regime and reap the rewards. But the inability to climb down and lose face has led him down this road and here we are. His pride is worth more to him than thousands of lives.

I don’t think Putin planned to flatten cities

It’s exactly what they did in Grozny. Twice.

I think, deep down – what has driven Putin to the position he’s in is he’s embarrassed by Ukraine. Ukrainians – post break up of the USSR enjoy a much better quality of life the Russians do – and given that Putin has been leader for 2/3rds of time – thats largely his fault. Russia has been stagnating while all former Warsaw Pact countries blossom – as for not needing the income? A third of its economy comes from exports.

Nothing to do with that. Ukraine can be as rich as they want just like Finland or Sweden.

The red line is that Putin said it during the 2008 Bucharest summit no more further NATO expansion to the east but the world took him for a joke. He even spoke to the press but they just gave him the bemused look.

When NATO chipped away the smaller nations, Putin let them be but with Ukraine that’s entirely a different story.

molgrips
I don’t think Putin planned to flatten cities, …

He will flatten as many cities as he can with no chance of Ukraine becoming a functioning nation in order to create his buffer zone.

Nothing to do with that. Ukraine can be as rich as they want just like Finland or Sweden.

The red line is that Putin said it during the 2008 Bucharest summit no more further NATO expansion to the east but the world took him for a joke. He even spoke to the press but they just gave him the bemused look.

When NATO chipped away the smaller nations, Putin let them be but with Ukraine that’s entirely a different story.

The key thing that Putin said is that he doesn’t believe Ukraine is a real country, he thinks it’s part of Russia. What enraged him was that Ukrainian’s turned away from Russia and wanted closer ties with the EU. This happened because most Ukrainians do not want to be part of a gangster state.

NATO did not “chip away” at anything. Countries asked to join NATO. That’s because they were afraid of Russia because of its long history of barbaric treatment of its neighbours.

Sure Jenn https://t.co/QGkGxNVHbt https://t.co/BGFWOBb81c https://t.co/s08fIWFz0F https://t.co/zTCDbyOi0t pic.twitter.com/OHG9dslHbG

— Miguel de Icaza (@migueldeicaza) March 25, 2022

I think this thread is perhaps for chewie:

The question is often raised:
Why doesn't the Kremlin know anything about Ukraine?
The short answer is massive imperial Russian contempt, but let me elaborate.
During decades of meetings in Moscow, whenever talking about Ukraine, you receive the reaction "yes, small Russians."

— Anders Åslund (@anders_aslund) March 28, 2022