Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

BluesJr

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That’s not my question, I understand the political side but, again, why are people using it as fact as if it somehow justifies Russia’s actions. (See the post I replied). It’d be like if Europe bombed the UK after Brexit and people were like ‘oh but there’s actually two sides to this…’

Ukriane should be free to join whatever it wants, BRIC, NATO, Russia or just do it’s own thing without the threat of a bloody invasion.
The Kremlin obviously believe that Ukraine belongs to them historically so they’ll be justifying their actions that way.
 

Carolina Red

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I’ve seen people say this but why should it? It’s just a line that’s been pedalled and no one questions.

If you are a former Soviet country and grew up knowing the history you’d had under Russian rule and another country offers you an option that you think is better, you’re essentially saying they shouldn’t get to decide as it might anger Russia? This goes for anywhere in the world and is part of being a free society.

We all know what happened in Iraq was wrong, if anything it makes it that much more obvious that what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. It’s 2022, we should all know better as a species by now.
The part that gets me about Iraq is that it wasn’t even a NATO operation. Several members of NATO actively opposed it.
 

pratyush_utd

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I’ve seen people say this but why should it? It’s just a line that’s been pedalled and no one questions.

If you are a former Soviet country and grew up knowing the history you’d had under Russian rule and another country offers you an option that you think is better, you’re essentially saying they shouldn’t get to decide as it might anger Russia? This goes for anywhere in the world and is part of being a free society.

We all know what happened in Iraq was wrong, if anything it makes it that much more obvious that what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. It’s 2022, we should all know better as a species by now.
Thats not for me to answer and can only speculate. I guess if you see NATO as a hostile force then, its expansion near your country is a threat you cant ignore. Ukraine inclusion will make Russia vulnerable as in event of war, oil supply can be easily cut which will result in paralysing Russia. It would be wise for NATO and Russia to have some buffer space and keep Ukraine as neutral ground. But we have crossed that line long back.

Some concessions have always been made to keep the peace.
 

stefan92

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Thats not for me to answer and can only speculate. I guess if you see NATO as a hostile force then, its expansion near your country is a threat you cant ignore. Ukraine inclusion will make Russia vulnerable as in event of war, oil supply can be easily cut which will result in paralysing Russia. It would be wise for NATO and Russia to have some buffer space and keep Ukraine as neutral ground. But we have crossed that line long back.

Some concessions have always been made to keep the peace.
Strategically that would have been a wise decision, but the problem is, that the European way obviously is far more appealing, as proven by the amount of further SU members being part of NATO/EU today. Russia's way wasn't attractive, and the way the Russians dominated the SU and suppressed other ethnic groups didn't help their cause.

As they are trying to force their will upon bordering states they lost their right to be legitimately concerned about NATO coming closer.
 

christinaa

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It's a good question, but an important point might be, that it simply is not on route at all, it appears to be the world's biggest traffic jam at the moment. It's a distance you can easily drive in half a day, yet they are barely moving forward. So they might be hit if they start moving, but at the moment it might just not be that important.
Probably several reasons for it. The convoy is protected by anti-air weapons, the Ukrainians don't have the capability to destroy it, the Ukrainians might think it's a waste of their capabilities to attack the convoy and they're reserving it for other locations.
I imagine because Ukraine has no air superiority and are using its weapons elsewhere, potentially strengthening the west of the country
I understand these comments but couldn't they have at least placed mines In the roads ?
 

sun_tzu

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I'm really curious how the Russian population responds to all this increasing isolation.
It's hard to know what is true in a war.... But if the narrative we have over here is true about russian media ... That it is still saying it's an operation in the Donbas only then there must be a huge disjoint with that and what Russians are seeing ... Companies closing.... Credit cards not working... Stock market closed....
 

Frosty

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What is that?
Sorry I should have said hybrid warfare, not asymmetric.

Asymmetric warfare is any conflict where the two powers are unequal militarily.

Hybrid warfare is any kind of conventional or unconventional tactics of subversion. So fake news, or manipulation of social media (both of which Russia used in 2016 in the UK referendum and US election). It is basically a form of propaganda for the digital age.

A long, detailed discussion here: https://www.nato.int/docu/review/ar...mplexity-and-trust-as-the-antidote/index.html
 

Mihai

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Sorry I should have said hybrid warfare, not asymmetric.

Asymmetric warfare is any conflict where the two powers are unequal militarily.

Hybrid warfare is any kind of conventional or unconventional tactics of subversion. So fake news, or manipulation of social media (both of which Russia used in 2016 in the UK referendum and US election). It is basically a form of propaganda for the digital age.

A long, detailed discussion here: https://www.nato.int/docu/review/ar...mplexity-and-trust-as-the-antidote/index.html
Yes, I agree and I am familiar with the concept of hybrid warfare.
 

stefan92

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I understand these comments but couldn't they have at least placed mines In the roads ?
Maybe they did and that's why it is moving very slowly - if the Russians have to make sure it's save to use the road, it would massively slow them down.
 

Hound Dog

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It's hard to know what is true in a war.... But if the narrative we have over here is true about russian media ... That it is still saying it's an operation in the Donbas only then there must be a huge disjoint with that and what Russians are seeing ... Companies closing.... Credit cards not working... Stock market closed....
The narrative is true but people are not stupid.

We had the same situation in the 90s. Everyone under 70 knew that what the state controlled media was saying was bs and figured out ways to learn the truth, at least parts of it.

And this was before internet became widespread.
 

Mihai

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I understand these comments but couldn't they have at least placed mines In the roads ?
“The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the centre of the city having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days.” according the the Ukrainian MOD. So, it's fair to assume that there are some sort of counter-attack measures to delay the convoy.
 

stefan92

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“The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the centre of the city having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days.” according the the Ukrainian MOD. So, it's fair to assume that there are some sort of counter-attack measures to delay the convoy.
Lesson learned: Don't invade a country at a time when everything is muddy and you can't really drive offroad. Disabling a few vehicles just stops everything.
 

Rhyme Animal

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That’s not my question, I understand the political side but, again, why are people using it as fact as if it somehow justifies Russia’s actions. (See the post I replied). It’d be like if Europe bombed the UK after Brexit and people were like ‘oh but there’s actually two sides to this…’

Ukriane should be free to join whatever it wants, BRIC, NATO, Russia or just do it’s own thing without the threat of a bloody invasion.
Absolutely bang on. Well said.
 

harms

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It's hard to say how much of this is them trying to distance themselves from that decision retroactively but it's a good sign anyway. Deripaska, Fridman speaking out, Abramovich forwarding Chelsea money to a fund to support Ukraine...

It's been my daily 3 minutes of optimism, I'll go to hopeless desperation & existential dread now.
 

sglowrider

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I'm really curious how the Russian population responds to all this increasing isolation.
I think they will think that the West hates Russia and basically trying to start a war against them. YOu have to remember that the propaganda that's being fed to them -- denazification (a morally correct thing to do considering what the Nazi Germans did during the war) --- and then to protect the ''Russians'' living in the Eastern parts of Ukraine from the genocide being initiated by the Nazi Ukrainians.

This military incursion is the right thing to do and yet the West is generating some propaganda that Ukrainians are being killed when really its the Russians that are being killed.