What's going on in Ukraine?

[dkm57]

About as real as WWF

[Jockaline]

About as real as WWF

Yes, but still amused me.

[dkm57]

About as real as WWF

Yes, but still amused me.

[tabascoboy]

Apparently sabotage, bridge attacked from below

[Raggs]

The horrors of being captured by the Ukrainians....

[Uncle fester]

The horrors of being captured by the Ukrainians....

This is the bit that is most gratifying. It would be tempting to treat the Russians as they treat others but that isn't happening. I'm sure any dodgy incidents are being filtered out to an extent but we'd have heard about them by now.

[laurent]

The horrors of being captured by the Ukrainians....

This is the bit that is most gratifying. It would be tempting to treat the Russians as they treat others but that isn't happening. I'm sure any dodgy incidents are being filtered out to an extent but we'd have heard about them by now.

There are some incidents (mostly showing faces on vids ) I have seen some heavy handed manhandling but nothing to compare with using a thermobaric rocket to get rid of some, not feeding them properly, rape threats (and quite a few rapes)...

[tabascoboy]

Russian Forces still throwing everything at Bakhmut as if the whole success of the war depends on it. Making some small advances it appears albeit at huge cost of lives. Becoming less clear how long it is viable for the defenders to use it as a kill-box and whether they have to cede the ground. There is really nothing there for Russian Forces other than to spin "good news" since as is their way they have shelled the town to near ruin.

[tabascoboy]

[dkm57]

At 96,590 removed to date and things hotting up around Bakhmut, Orc losses look like topping 100k by Xmas.

[tabascoboy]

At 96,590 removed to date and things hotting up around Bakhmut, Orc losses look like topping 100k by Xmas.

Still plenty of horror stories about what's happening to the mobiks before they are even sent to Ukraine, stationed in barracks in Russia if they are lucky or else temporary accommodation. Disease and hypothermia rampant in places. This is going to be a PTSD generation in Russia.

[dkm57]

The pic certainly looks like he's shit himself.

Might explain why the annual Christmas address is cancelled.

Hope he lives long enough and is aware enough to recognise what a complete and utter failure he has been.

[tabascoboy]

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alluded decision to postpone his annual address to the Russian Federation Assembly indicates he remains uncertain of his ability to shape the Russian information space amidst increasing criticism of his conduct of the invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest report by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian presidential address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian State Duma and Federation Council is an annual speech introduced to the Russian constitution in February 1994, roughly equivalent to the US President’s annual State of the Union address. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Putin may deliver his address to the Federation Assembly in 2023 and called on Russians to stop “fortune-telling with coffee grounds” regarding the timing of the next address, according to ISW.

An unnamed government source told the Russian state newswire TASS that the countdown for the new address starts from the date of the previous address, noting that the address is unlikely to take place in 2022.

Putin held his last address in late April 2021, discussing his initiatives for the year following the first crisis he caused with the Russian military buildup on the Ukrainian border in early 2021.

ISW suggests:

• The Russian withdrawal from Kyiv Oblast and northern Ukraine in April 2022 likely spoiled Putin’s plans to declare victory during the Federation Assembly address.
  Putin may not be confident in his ability to justify the cost of his war upon Russian domestic and global affairs when addressing the Russian public and elites.
  Putin has already canceled his annual press conference with the members of the Russian public, likely in an attempt to avoid answering questions about Russia’s military failures without resorting to excessively obvious manipulation of questioners and questions

.

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

Russia needs more cannon fodder

[Niegs]

Staggering.

[Raggs]

Russia needs more cannon fodder

Surely that's in case they need to start pulling triple shifts and sleeping in the police station, or moving to different regions to control. You can't remove all your police/firefighters etc....

[tabascoboy]

Russia needs more cannon fodder

Surely that's in case they need to start pulling triple shifts and sleeping in the police station, or moving to different regions to control. You can't remove all your police/firefighters etc....

There are many ex-military in the public services, and that's who they are most likely attempting to add to the mobiks potentially leaving them short-staffed

[Raggs]

Russia needs more cannon fodder

Surely that's in case they need to start pulling triple shifts and sleeping in the police station, or moving to different regions to control. You can't remove all your police/firefighters etc....

There are many ex-military in the public services, and that's who they are most likely attempting to add to the mobiks potentially leaving them short-staffed

I realise that, but taking away police, ambulance and fire fighters, just looks like a recipe for disaster and sabotage.

[tabascoboy]

Surely that's in case they need to start pulling triple shifts and sleeping in the police station, or moving to different regions to control. You can't remove all your police/firefighters etc....

There are many ex-military in the public services, and that's who they are most likely attempting to add to the mobiks potentially leaving them short-staffed

I realise that, but taking away police, ambulance and fire fighters, just looks like a recipe for disaster and sabotage.

We can but hope

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

“Russia’s proposed new law would ensure domestic impunity for Russian officials and their proxies who have committed war crimes and grave abuses in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The bill shows utter disregard for Russia’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law.”

[TB63]

[Raggs]

Those are massive losses, even for a large military. I've very little idea on the area, but are there a few regions that might be debating going for independence?

[Uncle fester]

Awful read about the victims of Bucha.

[tabascoboy]

Zelenskiy's visit to the US and the announcement of more aid including Patriot missile defence has led to an outpouring of pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine sentiment in the US and elsewhere - it's all back to "It's the West and NATO's fault" even though the Kremlin themselves long ago dropped the pretence about UA and NATO membership being the reason. Oh and of course Bucha and other war crimes are "a hoax"

[_Os_]

Awful read about the victims of Bucha.

The half hour video associated with it on the NYT is also very difficult to watch. It reminds you that the increasing number of people drawing equivalences and making excuses for the Russians online are cunts. Straight up cunts

American politics is grim stuff. Dems support Ukraine, so Republicans are edging closer towards actually supporting Putin just to differentiate themselves. Tucker Carlson is unwittingly making a strong case for mainstream media to be showing the corpses and the full grisly horror of this, he wouldn't have room for his bullshit then.

[Uncle fester]

https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/an ... all-russia

[Uncle fester]

Awful read about the victims of Bucha.

The half hour video associated with it on the NYT is also very difficult to watch. It reminds you that the increasing number of people drawing equivalences and making excuses for the Russians online are cunts. Straight up cunts

American politics is grim stuff. Dems support Ukraine, so Republicans are edging closer towards actually supporting Putin just to differentiate themselves. Tucker Carlson is unwittingly making a strong case for mainstream media to be showing the corpses and the full grisly horror of this, he wouldn't have room for his bullshit then.

Tucker in particular has plumbed new depths.

[tabascoboy]

[_Os_]

The half hour video associated with it on the NYT is also very difficult to watch. It reminds you that the increasing number of people drawing equivalences and making excuses for the Russians online are cunts. Straight up cunts

American politics is grim stuff. Dems support Ukraine, so Republicans are edging closer towards actually supporting Putin just to differentiate themselves. Tucker Carlson is unwittingly making a strong case for mainstream media to be showing the corpses and the full grisly horror of this, he wouldn't have room for his bullshit then.

Tucker in particular has plumbed new depths.

The raging hard on for Putin gives it away. Carlson's journey has taken him from articulate conservative critic once praised by Christopher Hitchens, to populist loud mouth, to where he is now which is something approaching supporter of fascism. The Republican loonies love Putin and Russia because they stand against liberal democracy, therefore Carlson must give them what they want.

There's Brexit-y vibes about it, I wonder if they're actually serious, if they've thought it all through and if this is just a political game to them. Carlson is clearly playing games there, the Republican right is obsessive about Christianity (I've seen some comment about them going cold on the UK, because Sunak isn't Christian, and the UK isn't majority Christian). The only religious element I've seen during this war comes from Russian propaganda, the bizarre stuff about a cleansing Orthodox crusade, which clearly didn't resonate with Russians as it has been dropped. For Carlson the calculation is simply "Say Ukrainians are fighting against Christianity to win the support of Republican loonies, added bonus that Zelensky is Jewish".

The US wouldn't have won the Cold War with behaviour like this, at best the Cold War would've still been going and at worst the US would've lost. If it's the dawn of a new Cold War the prospect of the US losing to China is higher than many are bargaining for (including Carlson). If there's no bipartisan support for Ukraine in a conflict as clear cut as this, with an obvious bad actor both legally and morally, then they have no ability to contest a new Cold War against China which by its nature will be morally/legally ambiguous most of the time. A lot of the questions look like "do you want to support Pakistan/Vietnam/Indonesia/Saudi Arabia/Egypt, or do you want to let China have a free lunch there?". The Republicans have shit themselves over a much simpler question, for the US supporting Ukraine and weakening Russia's military for generation in the process should be a no brainer, it's not complicated at all. This is what a Cold War style proxy conflict looks like, Biden/US has smashed Putin/Russia using a third country that wanted to fight, this is how it works.

The Republican response to all this is the same as giving half hearted support to Chairman Mao during the Korean War whilst having a moan about Korea being a bit of a corrupt dictatorship. What their strategy will be after giving up on Afghanistan then presumably Ukraine is a mystery, it all has that Brexit-y vibe though, so I'm guessing they're presuming there'll be a long line of nations eager to be a US ally in every corner of the world and all these nations will be perfect unicorns where nothing bad ever happens.

[Calculon]

It took two world wars to sort out German nationalism. Let's hope that the problem of Russian nationalism can be fixed when they lose their genocidal war against Ukraine.

Very childlike view of WW1.

I was referring to Germany's pre WW1 aims of annexing parts of it's neighbors to ensure it's great power status (not unlike what Russia is trying to do) and how it took two world wars to defeat these ambitions.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ge ... ar-i-10778

[Niegs]

Meanwhile, in Russia...

[tabascoboy]

Ukraine can neither confirm, nor deny....

[Uncle fester]

It took two world wars to sort out German nationalism. Let's hope that the problem of Russian nationalism can be fixed when they lose their genocidal war against Ukraine.

Very childlike view of WW1.

I was referring to Germany's pre WW1 aims of annexing parts of it's neighbors to ensure it's great power status (not unlike what Russia is trying to do) and how it took two world wars to defeat these ambitions.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ge ... ar-i-10778

Ah the Fischer thesis. Controversial in its own time and widely bebunked in modern times.

[Calculon]

Very childlike view of WW1.

I was referring to Germany's pre WW1 aims of annexing parts of it's neighbors to ensure it's great power status (not unlike what Russia is trying to do) and how it took two world wars to defeat these ambitions.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ge ... ar-i-10778

Ah the Fischer thesis. Controversial in its own time and widely bebunked in modern times.

Sure, do you actually have a point?

[derriz]

World War One was mostly a territory grab by the great (European) powers of the time - France, Britain and Russia for the lands of the collapsing Ottoman Empire - Sykes-Picot makes this clear. It was the swan song of the “great game” - suggesting that there was some moral element to the motivations of the allied powers is revisionism. the treaty of London was more of the same.

WW2 was a completely different situation - absolutely caused by German aggression - lumping both wars into a single narrative is anti-history.

[derriz]

Regarding those “righty” cunts in the US defending Russia - it’s kinda expected no? They’re kind of proud of their cuntyness- cartoon villains - and never pretended to give a fuck about human suffering outside of their small tribe. I’m More disgusted by the likes of Chomsky, Pilger and other “lefties” also defending Russia - the hypocrisy is absolutely appalling - Real fucking hero’s these lads - standing up for the oppressed of the world

[tabascoboy]

Don't know if confirmed