Ukraine – Russia … not more of the last thread

[haraldo]

The vast majority of Ukrainians have a negative attitude towards Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin, according to a poll by the Rating group.

The poll showed that Putin's anti-rating is 98%. His main aide, Alexander Lukashenko, has set his anti-rating at 96%.

 

[haraldo]

A man came to the humanitarian center of Zaporizhzhia, he had been walking for 5 days (!) from Mariupol with his dog. He walked under shelling, through mined fields.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Sadly, there are quite a few people who do not accept that this invasion is a war of aggression by Russia. Many people who lean hard right, a not insignificant number of folks in the USA, toe Moscow's line because they admire the authoritarian machismo of Putin's regime. It should be better communicated that this isn't just a war between nations but a war of ideologies, and it is a world war since so many liberal democracies are under attack world wide from these outright fascist forces. It's a shame that we are basically fighting world war 2 again, and for the same reasons by the same ideologies. Russia must be stomped into dust, and every shitbag who supports their political ideology must banished back into their caves the world over. Just because they don't wear swastikas doesn't mean they aren't nazis.

While everything you say is true, we can't forget that many on the "progressive" left - and certainly, the tankies - are engaging in knee-jerk anti-western/NATO BS rhetoric, if not outright support for the Russians.
How the left sees Russia’s war in Ukraine — and America’s role - Vox

While western governments may be hypocritical in many respects, now is not the time to entertaining whataboutisms. To withhold military support, in favour/place of humanitarian assistance would be tantamount to handing Ukraine to Putin.

While Putin's western right-wing fluffers seem to get most of the coverage, we can't forget about the left-wing useful idiots.

 

[shadyJ]

While everything you say is true, we can't forget that many on the "progressive" left - and certainly, the tankies - are engaging in knee-jerk anti-western/NATO BS rhetoric, if not outright support for the Russians.
How the left sees Russia’s war in Ukraine — and America’s role - Vox

While western governments may be hypocritical in many respects, now is not the time to entertaining whataboutisms. To withhold military support, in favour/place of humanitarian assistance would be tantamount to handing Ukraine to Putin.

While Putin's western right-wing fluffers seem to get most of the coverage, we can't forget about the left-wing useful idiots.

There are some hard-left Americans who are on Putin's payroll for sure, like Jill Stein, but they are dwarfed in number by rightwingers. This is primarily a problem of the right.

 

[GO-NAD!]

There are some hard-left Americans who are on Putin's payroll for sure, like Jill Stein, but they are dwarfed in number by rightwingers. This is primarily a problem of the right.

Oh, for sure. But I'm not letting the far left off the hook. People like Tulsi Gabbard, Noam Chomsky and George Galloway.

 

[Mojo Navigator]

A Russian opposition politician explaining Putin and the Donbas to her fellow Russians in 2014 ! It's a short video but obviously has great insight into Putin's motives.

 

[haraldo]

 

[Mr._Clark]

Putin: "You better not send more weapons to Ukraine!*"

US DoD: "Up yours!"

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1519419204960669700

*or I'll come and sink my ships near your coast!"

 

[Mr._Clark]

This is in poor taste, but it's kinda funny:

 

[Verdinut]

This is in poor taste, but it's kinda funny:

View attachment 55753

By the photo, it looks like it sanked.

 

[haraldo]

Putin: "You better not send more weapons to Ukraine!*"

US DoD: "Up yours!"

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1519419204960669700

*or I'll come and sink my ships near your coast!"

Still, IMHE the west have been cowards and we invited putler into Ukraine with open arms, saying welcome

There´s been a war in Ukriane for 8 years and russia have illegally taken Donbass and Crimea.... no-one dared to stand up to putler.... that is a very clear signal, here you are putler, invading another country illegally is not something we are going to stand up against, that is a welcome to russia and putler to go to next step!

 

[highfigh]

Oh, for sure. But I'm not letting the far left off the hook. People like Tulsi Gabbard, Noam Chomsky and George Galloway.

I don't think I would include Gabbard in that group- she has been very critical of the current admin.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Interesting read. I had no idea - of course, I had no reason to wonder about it - that much of Russia's most sophisticated military equipment relied on western-produced components.

Yeah, that was a bit of an eye-opener. I'm curious how much of it got in through straw men transactions.

On the other hand, the west has been buying various items from Russia for military use for many years. Titanium for the SR-71 is a well-known example:

>>>Titanium was in short supply in the United States, so the Skunk Works team was forced to look elsewhere for the metal. Much of the needed material came from the Soviet Union. Colonel Rich Graham, SR-71 pilot, described the acquisition process:

The airplane is 92% titanium inside and out. Back when they were building the airplane the United States didn't have the ore supplies – an ore called rutile ore. It's a very sandy soil and it's only found in very few parts of the world. The major supplier of the ore was the USSR. Working through Third World countries and bogus operations, they were able to get the rutile ore shipped to the United States to build the SR-71.<<

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I started seeing pictures of Russian soldiers with western-made rifles on various OSINT twitter feeds a few weeks ago. It's annoying, but it turns out it's not exactly a big secret. (I think the reference to "Austrian .380 Winchester ammunition" in the article below is a typo, and should be ".308 Winchester")

Three Western gun models are trusted by Russian special forces

The Russian security service special forces use a variety of Western weapons, including Glock 17 pistols, MR-308 rifles and Mannlicher sniper rifles. Special operations units of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) possess all kinds of advanced tactical weapons ... Read more

www.newsnpr.org

 

[highfigh]

Yeah, that was a bit of an eye-opener. I'm curious how much of it got in through straw men transactions.

On the other hand, the west has been buying various items from Russia for military use for many years. Titanium for the SR-71 is a well-known example:

>>>Titanium was in short supply in the United States, so the Skunk Works team was forced to look elsewhere for the metal. Much of the needed material came from the Soviet Union. Colonel Rich Graham, SR-71 pilot, described the acquisition process:

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I started seeing pictures of Russian soldiers with western-made rifles on various OSINT twitter feeds a few weeks ago. It's annoying, but it turns out it's not exactly a big secret. (I think the reference to "Austrian .380 Winchester ammunition" in the article below is a typo, and should be ".308 Winchester")

Three Western gun models are trusted by Russian special forces

The Russian security service special forces use a variety of Western weapons, including Glock 17 pistols, MR-308 rifles and Mannlicher sniper rifles. Special operations units of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) possess all kinds of advanced tactical weapons ... Read more

www.newsnpr.org

During the Cold War, there was zero chance that the USSR would sell any strategic materials to the US and the US wanted Ti, so the CIA set up a company that was able to buy it.

I bet someone puckered when they found out.

Did you know that the US has been buying rocket engines from Russia?

 

[Trell]

Europe has got some well deserved criticism for allowing to become dependent on Russian gas and oil, but....

 

[mtrycrafts]

By the photo, it looks like it sanked.

That was my initial question, where is it? Then it dawned on me. A half sinking ship would have been nice.

 

[Swerd]

It didn’t sink. It’s conducting an special undersea operation…

after experiencing an unexplained fire.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Speaking of unexplained fires, #17 in Russia has just been confirmed:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1520255876120014848

Sadly, Put-hole has not yet burst into flames.

 

[Mr._Clark]

I don't know if the guy who wrote the Forbes article (link below) is correct, but he suggests that the fires in Russia are the result of Ukraine sabotage, and the motive is to counter the Russian's ability to engage in a long-term war of attrition using long range missile strikes on Ukraine:

>>>Acts of sabotage proliferate daily inside Russia. No one claims responsibility, most observers credit Ukrainian guerillas operating behind the lines. . . . Sadly, the long-term attritional scenario favors Moscow because relentless missile strikes from afar, even randomly aimed across the country on Kharkiv, Lviv, newly regained zones like Kherson, must take its toll. Putin will simply prevent Ukraine from resuming normal life for the foreseeable future. . . . This is where the sabotage campaign inside Russia can change the balance. . . . The seemingly scattershot targeting makes sense if you consider the full implications. It brings the war home palpably – Moscow cannot obfuscate the incidents forever. Psychologically, the population will begin to feel the anxiety of defenselessness, wondering what will happen next and where. They will inexorably question the competence of their leaders and lose trust in the news propaganda.<<<

This seems to make sense. Attack in Russia so that the Russian people know that the war is not entirely risk-free for them (of course, just because this motive seems to make sense doesn't prove the Ukraine is in fact behind the fires, etc.).

Earlier, the author suggests that the Russian Federation is held together weakly, and the West had collectively decided it was better to support the Federation by buying oil from it rather than letting it fall apart into a morass of unstable, warring smaller states (this is my attempt to boil it down, feel free to disagree with my attempt at boiling). This has some appeal on the face of it, but I'm not sure I buy it. It's hard to see how the west could be capable of coordinating to this degree. I suspect self-interest by each country was the primary driver (e.g. Germany figured Russian gas would help it's economy, and if Russia got too powerful it could rely on the other NATO countries to share the costs to solve the problem)(Germany is just the fall guy I picked for this example, I'm not saying other countries didn't act in their own interests).

Hidden Truths Of The Ukraine War: Drunk Russian Soldiers, Germany’s Real Problem, Sabotage Inside Russia

Moscow will always be free to hurl missiles from afar. Solution? Increase sabotage within Russia and weaken Putin’s system of internal command and control.

www.forbes.com

 

[haraldo]

Near Kyiv there was found a pit with the bodies of three men who were tortured and then killed by Russians — police . "The victims were tortured for a long period of time, bullet wounds were found on the extremities. In the end, each of the men was shot in the ear", — said the police.

In total, in the Kyiv region, investigators examined 1,202 bodies of civilians killed by the occupiers.