Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

VorZakone

What would Kenny G do?
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
33,143
Oliver Stone (director) has been sharing pro-Russian narratives on his twitter feed.

Disappointing in the sense that some of those narratives have been debunked already so they're just factually wrong.
 

GlastonSpur

Also disliked on an Aston Villa forum
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
17,716
Supports
Spurs
According to this estimate, the Russians now have somewhere between 78,200 (Ukraine government figures) and 57,000 (open source evidence) military personnel out of action. Even the lower figure is 30% of their original invasion force.

 
Last edited:

GlastonSpur

Also disliked on an Aston Villa forum
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
17,716
Supports
Spurs
This fits with a BBC report: "

The US also believes there were casualties when the Russian missile cruiser Moskva sank, the same official tells Reuters news agency.

The senior US official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of casualties was unclear.

The ship had a crew of about 500 sailors, and Russia previously said they were successfully evacuated to other ships."
 

Raoul

Admin
Staff
Joined
Aug 14, 1999
Messages
130,455
Location
Hollywood CA
According to this estimate, the Russians now have somewhere between 78,200 (Ukraine government figures) and 57,000 (open source evidence) military personnel out of action. Even the lower figure is 30% of their original invasion force.

Even if you were to accept the lower end number, that's still absolutely bonkers given that its been less than two months of fighting, a portion of which involved the Russians fleeing all of northern Ukraine.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

Full Member
Joined
May 27, 2021
Messages
8,250
Have you seen JFK?
Although the film gives the impression of a bigger lean on the military-industrial complex as the culprit, I appreciated that movie for exploring the various possibilities.

No, I feel like something has gone haywire with him around the time when Wikileaks was a thing and when he was on the Snowden movie project.
 

frostbite

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
3,361
Why though? What turned him? I just don't get it.
I have seen the same stance with many Greeks that were strongly anti-western and now they are with Putin, even though Putin is actually the opposite of everything they believe. Why does this happen? If you have spent all your life pointing that the West is the devil on this Earth, and then you also accept that the other side is even worse ... where does this leave you?

Yes, there are a few people that can remain anti-western and still accept that everyone else is even worse(!), but the majority of people cannot live with such a dark and hopeless worldview. Especially during a big war like this, you feel the need to take sides. If you want to remain consistent with your past anti-western life, then you have to take Putin's side, which means that you have to trick your mind to believe that black is white. Unfortunately, we have seen many times before that people can do this, Trump supporters, religious wars when both sides talk about God's love and yet they kill full of hate, and so on, there are many examples of disconnect in History.
 

VorZakone

What would Kenny G do?
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
33,143
I have seen the same stance with many Greeks that were strongly anti-western and now they are with Putin, even though Putin is actually the opposite of everything they believe. Why does this happen? If you have spent all your life pointing that the West is the devil on this Earth, and then you also accept that the other side is even worse ... where does this leave you?

Yes, there are a few people that can remain anti-western and still accept that everyone else is even worse(!), but the majority of people cannot live with such a dark and hopeless worldview. Especially during a big war like this, you feel the need to take sides. If you want to remain consistent with your past anti-western life, then you have to take Putin's side, which means that you have to trick your mind to believe that black is white. Unfortunately, we have seen many times before that people can do this, Trump supporters, religious wars when both sides talk about God's love and yet they kill full of hate, and so on, there are many examples of disconnect in History.
Thanks, interesting to hear a Greek perspective.
 

matherto

ask me about our 50% off sale!
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
17,561
Location
St. Helens
The facial recognition? Seems like a logical move in order to foment discontent within Russia as well as give families some semblance of closure.
No, the war in general and the fact that Russia are just escalating and threatening and doubling down despite it making zero sense.
 

Lebo

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Messages
380
To people who keep updating us on this theead, kuddos . This is where I come for daily updates. I don’t even bother with mainstream media because they will report whatever I see here after 12hours. Maybe that has to do with living in a 3rd world country

I feel like there will never be full retreat from Russia until they start losing their own non military assets. When Ukraine is ready, they must just start attacking Russia. Currently only Ukraine Civilians are “collateral damage “ and none from the Russians side.
 

nimic

something nice
Scout
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Messages
31,836
Location
And I'm all out of bubblegum.
I feel like there will never be full retreat from Russia until they start losing their own non military assets. When Ukraine is ready, they must just start attacking Russia. Currently only Ukraine Civilians are “collateral damage “ and none from the Russians side.
I don't think hoping for Russian civilians to die is the right approach. "Non military assets" is a somewhat perverse way of looking at it.
 

Tiber

Full Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
10,294
Are the people in Eastern Ukraine genuinely pro Russian or do they just not want to get shot?

I have never been clear whether the new Russian backed states actually have mass support.
 

Simbo

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
5,238
Are the people in Eastern Ukraine genuinely pro Russian or do they just not want to get shot?

I have never been clear whether the new Russian backed states actually have mass support.
After half the population of the DPR/LPR territories fled (west, not east), anyone else resisting was arrested and a few truckloads of poor Russians were bused in to live there, there might be a pro-russian marjority yes. Prior to 2014? no i hightly doubt it.
 

VorZakone

What would Kenny G do?
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
33,143
Are the people in Eastern Ukraine genuinely pro Russian or do they just not want to get shot?

I have never been clear whether the new Russian backed states actually have mass support.
It's interesting. I still don't quite have a clear grasp of how pro-Russian the east is. It seemed many voted for Yanukovych in the past and the Donbas separatists don't just fall out of the sky either.

But take a place like Kharkiv for example which is heavily Russian-speaking. I think the pro-Russian sentiment there won't be as lively anymore after this invasion...
 

Lebo

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Messages
380
I don't think hoping for Russian civilians to die is the right approach. "Non military assets" is a somewhat perverse way of looking at it.
It’s not the right approach but it might be one of the few approaches left. By nom military assets I meant things like bridges, cellphone towers, parliament etc. The best form of defence is attack I heard. Maybe I just got tired of having people support this nonsense. Anyway I hope it works out great for everyone involved
 

GlastonSpur

Also disliked on an Aston Villa forum
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
17,716
Supports
Spurs
For anyone who thinks that economic sanctions are having little effect ... from a Russian in business, living outside Russia in one of the Central Asian Republics:

 

Raoul

Admin
Staff
Joined
Aug 14, 1999
Messages
130,455
Location
Hollywood CA
Why though? What turned him? I just don't get it.
Because Vlad invited Stone to Moscow and rolled out the red carpet for him to make a doc about him. It’s actually an interesting doc, but it’s also pretty clear Putin bamboozled Stone in the process .

 

Sir Matt

Blue Devil
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
18,332
Location
LUHG
A lot of Twitter chatter about the Moskva going down with a couple of nukes on board.
Also rumors of a piece of the True Cross on there.


If only the Ukrainians had a sub they could use to recover the supposed nukes...
 

GlastonSpur

Also disliked on an Aston Villa forum
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
17,716
Supports
Spurs
Also rumors of a piece of the True Cross on there ...
Or perhaps a True Double Cross. The FSB should question all of the 50-odd survivors to find out which of them has Ukrainian ancestry and so smuggled a radar jamming device on board.