Russia-Ukraine

[Huntn]

On tonight's news... Zelensky is applying for accelerated ascension into NATO. That poses an interesting dynamic in getting all 30 members to approve with Putin claiming parts of Ukraine now being Russian territory.

EDIT: Perhaps that possibility drove Putin's move to claim that area as Russian territory.

He’s like Shit Head Drumph, if he says it, it’s so, as he thinks that is all it takes, but as reported Ukraine troops are occupying one of those areas, and assaulting others.

 

[Yoused]

Saw this account elsewhere

Spoiler: retreating

and it bothered me. I do not sympathize with what the person writing it wants to do, but it paints a picture that is disturbing. This is a person, after all.

 

[AG_PhamD]

Saw this account elsewhere

Spoiler: retreating

and it bothered me. I do not sympathize with what the person writing it wants to do, but it paints a picture that is disturbing. This is a person, after all.

I don’t think it’s right in the slightest to have sympathy as a political entity. I for one do have sympathy for some (perhaps many) of these Russian soldiers. A lot of them are 17, 18, 19 years old and had little serious understanding of what they were getting into in terms of actually fighting a war. There are then those who signed up expecting to be handling boxes but then find themselves on the front lines firing guns. Then you also have some, many of whom are probably dead at this point, who didn’t even know they were invading a country until they were doing so. Similarly there were those lead to believe they were fighting for a legitimate cause and would be warmly welcomed- in the context of coming from a poor community and being offered a once in a lifetime salary. If they abandon their post they’ll likely suffer severe punishment- in fact at this point if they even retreat without permission they will be shot on the spot (much like WWII) or jailed for IIRC 10-15 years. So they’re effectively imprisoned into war and have little feasible alternatives that are positive. And in a sense they are having to fight for their very survival- a very different existential crisis Putin speaks of. Oh yeah, I forgot now to mention now you have people being drafted with zero desire to get involved.

In short, I feel bad for those on the Russian side who do not want to be there but really have no other option other than death or years imprisonment and separation from their families for whom they are providing.

On a weird moral sense, I find it quite troublesome you have these Russian guys going to war (willingly or not) who are under the impression they’re in the #2 military in the world- only to arrive and be given old or defective equipment- or often none at all. Plus training is either laughably minimal or nonexistent. It’s like they’re not even being given a fair opportunity. And I can only imagine the feeling that sinks in once they get thrown on the front line with no armor and an unreliable weapon with 2 weeks of training- the feeling that they are clearly just being used as cannon fodder and that your government has zero regard for your life. And you realize you have zero interest in being part of this silly war based on BS pretext.

That said, there are plenty of Russian soldiers who deserve none- such as those who commit war crimes, especially the killing of civilians.

Again, to be clear, I have no sympathy for what Russia has done to Ukraine. But I do have some sympathy and humanity for the young Russian soldiers who have become wrapped up with this- particularly those who had no option to really choose. While it’s technically true everyone always has a choice, I think the fact they are in such a position deserves sympathy in itself- because the alternatives would also be life destroying for themselves and potentially their families. That said, Ukraine is clearly the victim here and their suffering deserves the attention.

 

[lizkat]

To quote a piece of one of my own previous posts... I may not have been that far off. Still it could be a long slog to ending the war since Ukraine will not negotiate while Putin's pretense of annexation persists on paper but is not proving defensible on the ground.

So once "everyone" in those areas has voted to join the Russian Federation, I guess Putin will sign formal annexation papers, proclaim "mission accomplished," cancel the mobilization, pull troops out and declare to Zelensky something like "We'll be back to reorganize a proper government in the spring, please clean up the mess meanwhile."

I mean Putin hasn't cancelled the mobilization yet nor actually said "we'll be back in the spring, please clean up the mess meanwhile".. but the Guardian is reporting that Putin has acknowledged losses in some "annexed" provinces and "assumes" things will "stabilize"...

Putin appears to admit severe Russian losses in Ukraine

Ukrainian army making ‘fast and powerful progress’ in south, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy

www.theguardian.com

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has appeared to concede the severity of the Kremlin’s recent military reversals in Ukraine, insisting Russia would “stabilise” the situation in four Ukrainian regions it illegally claimed as its own territory last week.

Russia has suffered significant losses in two of the four regions since Friday, when Putin signed treaties to incorporate them into Russia by force, with Russian officials saying their forces were “regrouping”.

“We are working on the assumption that the situation in the new territories will stabilise,” Putin told Russian teachers during a televised video call.

Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at St Andrews University, added that Ukraine’s recent progress had been a product of a process, not a turning point.

“For months now, Russia has been getting weaker, it has been bleeding its army on the field, it’s been losing a huge amount of equipment. On the other hand, the Ukrainians have been getting stronger; they have better-trained forces and better military equipment.”

He added: “This hasn’t happened overnight, this has been the way the war has been trending but now we can say it reached the tipping point in September.”

In the short term there is nothing Russia can do because they waited too long to mobilise, O’Brien said.

“It’s more of a question of, can they just hold on and hope that they can get a trained and re-equipped force back in the spring, but even then there’s a question about whether they can do that,” said O’Brien. He said Russia would need to produce more equipment and properly train troops but its system of mobilisation appeared “chaotic”.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I’m wondering if Putin can take advantage of the proxy blaming to back out. “None of it is Putin’s fault. He is perfect. It’s everybody under him!” *wink* Dictators really love to surround themselves by the best/worst people. He can blame and punish them instead of blowing up the planet.

 

[lizkat]

I’m wondering if Putin can take advantage of the proxy blaming to back out. “None of it is Putin’s fault. He is perfect. It’s everybody under him!” *wink* Dictators really love to surround themselves by the best/worst people. He can blame and punish them instead of blowing up the planet.

Hell just give him 500 bucks and point him to Steam and let him blow stuff up 24/7 in virtual reality.

Someone should have given Putin a nice board game version of Risk while he was still in the KGB in East Germany. I mean a guy who just wants to win can get hooked on any game as long as he sees himself winning. Dictators are all narcissists and do figure themselves winners.

Maybe he'd have got really engrossed in world domination right there on his kitchen table in Dresden. He might never have returned to shattered realities of the old USSR, nor attempted to restore an empire from nations meanwhile saying "uh... no thanks, been there, done that."

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Hell just give him 500 bucks and point him to Steam and let him blow stuff up 24/7 in virtual reality.

Someone should have given Putin a nice board game version of Risk while he was still in the KGB in East Germany. I mean a guy who just wants to win can get hooked on any game as long as he sees himself winning. Dictators are all narcissists and do figure themselves winners.

Maybe he'd have got really engrossed in world domination right there on his kitchen table in Dresden. He might never have returned to shattered realities of the old USSR, nor attempted to restore an empire from nations meanwhile saying "uh... no thanks, been there, done that."

Speaking of best people, the US has the really nasty habit of backing the best people in a region, largely being responsible for their ungodly wealth and unquestioned violent rule over their people, who eventually get bored and try to crush or take over their neighbors and then call us the assholes because we say mean things. At this point I see no downside to turning Saudi Arabia into an Afghanistan style cat litter box.

 

[lizkat]

Speaking of best people, the US has the really nasty habit of backing the best people in a region, largely being responsible for their ungodly wealth and unquestioned violent rule over their people, who eventually get bored and try to crush or take over their neighbors and then call us the assholes because we say mean things. At this point I see no downside to turning Saudi Arabia into an Afghanistan style cat litter box.

The other side of "Saudi oil" though is weapons purchases from the USA. So it's hardly ever just about the oil when talk turns to relationships between the two countries. Every time we are tempted to holler take yer oil and stick it (for whatever reason), a raft of voices from K street rise up anew to lobby hard for the defense sector.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Putin's 70th birthday today.......I wonder if his birthday wish is to avoid having to scapegoat some of his closest supporters for the failures of the special operation.

 

[lizkat]

Putin's 70th birthday today.......I wonder if his birthday wish is to avoid having to scapegoat some of his closest supporters for the failures of the special operation.

Let's hope someone gave him one of these as a hint.

​

 

[Huntn]

Russian Soldiers Calling Ukraine Surrender Hotline By The Thousands:

Russian soldiers calling Ukrainian surrender hotline by the thousands - GUR

Let's hope someone gave him one of these as a hint.

View attachment 18262​

My mug version:
Don’t worry about getting older. You still get to do stupid, immoral, murderous things, only slower.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Since things work a bit differently in Russia, I think it's time for somebody to put the bullet of no confidence in his head. Kind of the only choice left when you remove or rig voting somebody out of office. Maybe they can give him an honorable death by letting him set out to sea on his yacht and then dropping a tactical nuke on it. If I knew the writing was on the wall for me I'd think that's a pretty badass and near-painless way to go.

 

[Yoused]

Putin's 70th birthday today....

Vlad's White Russia pal Puppetdent Luchansky gave him

Spoiler: a large toy

BBC link​

for his birthday.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Vlad's White Russia pal Puppetdent Luchansky gave him

Spoiler: a large toy

​

"puppetdent"....!

now there's a title to aspire to!

 

[leman]

Saw this account elsewhere
and it bothered me. I do not sympathize with what the person writing it wants to do, but it paints a picture that is disturbing. This is a person, after all.

I fully understand how you feel. The individual tragedy caused by this idiotic war is staggering. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians cannot allow themselves leniency. If they ease up or let the Russians retreat they will come back and bring more misery. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that if you stop to take pity of the enemy you will likely die and your close ones will be effectively enslaved. What’s doubly tragic that many of the individual enemy soldiers are merely caught in the situation. Which of course doesn’t mean that they are innocent or blameless.

Anyhow, Russian soldiers always have the option to surrender.

By the way, it’s not like the situation inside Russia itself is much better. Have you seen this video of the conscripts locked inside the Covid-infected train, without any care or support? Or Russian boys sleeping in the open fields because the army has no accommodation or equipment for them? This is so absurd. But then again, Russian history is a history of exploitation, corruption and dehumanization. It’s not in the Russian culture to care about the population.

Vlad's White Russia pal Puppetdent Luchansky gave him a large toy
for his birthday.

I hope he can use it to clear up the present Ukrainians gave him for his birthday

 

[Yoused]

I hope he can use it to clear up the present Ukrainians gave him for his birthday

Interesting thing about that is that it is generally thought to have been a truck bomb. Which was traveling westward. Meaning it was going from Russia, into Crimea. Clearly the Ukrainians have operatives working in Krasnodar Oblast.

 

[leman]

Interesting thing about that is that it is generally thought to have been a truck bomb. Which was traveling westward. Meaning it was going from Russia, into Crimea. Clearly the Ukrainians have operatives working in Krasnodar Oblast.

I very much doubt it was the truck. The explosion seem to come from below the bridge. Here is a frame by frame breakdown:

War Zone ✙ Мобилизация

?

t.me

 

[Alli]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1578645820093890560/

I trust Malcolm Nance.

 

[Yoused]

Intelligence announces numerous arrests of military personnel in Moscow

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO - SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2022, 17:47 According to Ukrainian Intelligence, numerous arrests of servicemen have started in Moscow, with traffic in the city centre blocked, although Russian media are failing to report this.

www.yahoo.com

Yes, it did look promising at first, but, you know who else fooled himself into thinking that he could win on the Russian Front?

 

[fooferdoggie]

but did the gift certificate include a manure spreader?

Leader of Belarus gifts Putin a tractor for 70th birthday​