Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

spiriticon

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Yes, I can understand that thought. However, the economical consequences will cross all borders. Already energy crisis in northern europe, I guess the electricity bill will be even bigger and prices and availability for many goods will be worse off. With the inflation and everything this is a perfect storm. Great to "leave" the pandemic and instantly this crap happens! Russia has made itself self-reliant on food, energy etc, it seems Putin has planned this for a long time. I believe we are in for a long period of both hot and cold war, I hope not but things are not looking so well.
Absolutely. I think the inflation in gas prices and cost of living since the end of 2021 means there's no better time than now to do this.

He won't get the same economic leverage once the prices go back to normal.

It's a dark time.
 

TMDaines

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Quite a few years ago, it’s not even taught at schools any longer. People who try to speak Russian in public are sanctioned.
This is complete and utter disinformation.

Mods, I urge you to step in if people are being wilfully ignorant either to troll or otherwise.
 

Water Melon

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So a friend of mine was out with a Russian colleague a couple of nights back and apparently there’s a lot of credible rumours that Putin is seriously unwell with a possibly terminal illness. He sees this as his last big hurrah. Securing his legacy as the man who reunited the old Russian empire. Sound plausible?
Have no idea regarding the illness, but he does look unwell. As for the latter part, his swan song could turn out to be a set of nails in the coffin of Russian economy.
 
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owlo

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I'm curious, what are these 3 things?
The two important ones were: Calling up the reserves fully, and redistributing medical peoples to fully staff field hospitals (including reserve 'civilian' personel)

I don't think his current configuration is expecting many casualties.
 

Smores

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It does feel like everyone has an odd definition of imminent. I guess officials have to brief the press so they're mainly repeating the same intel to the media every time they're asked.
 

Danny1982

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I believe the first part, but I'm not sure I believe the second.
There have been consecutive measures (put into laws) against the Russian language since 2014, the last of which was in 2021.

New law stokes Ukraine language tensions
Issued on: 01/04/2021 - 07:44Modified: 01/04/2021 - 07:43


Mariupol (Ukraine) (AFP) –


Galyna Lekunova, a veterinarian in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, was left fuming by a new law in January mandating the use of Ukrainian in the service industry.

In protest against the regulations that she said amounted to "discrimination," the 47-year-old began offering 50-percent discounts to her Russian-speaking clients.

This is what she believes spurred the perpetrators of a graffiti attack on her clinic, which was defaced in late January with scrawls of black coffins and a warning of "Death to the enemies".

One month later, the paint was still visible on a poster of a puppy advertising her services in Russian in the industrial port city on the Black Sea.

"If I work, pay my employees' salaries and my taxes, it's none of your damn business which language I do it in," Lekunova, wearing a floral-patterned apron, told AFP.

The incident in Mariupol, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line of Ukraine's war with separatists backed by Moscow, reflects a deeply-felt language divide in the ex-Soviet country of 40 million people.

Lawmakers in 2019 passed legislation to cement Ukrainian as the country's primary language, ordering middle schools that taught in Russian and other minority languages to make the switch and mandating Ukrainian versions of online stores.

An article of the laws that entered into force in January goes further, obliging shops, restaurants and the service industry to engage customers in Ukrainian unless clients specifically ask to switch.

Anyone caught violating the new legislation twice within one year could be fined 200 euros ($235), almost half of the average salary in the country. No one has been penalised so far.

Officials in Kiev say the initiative aims to revitalise a national language that was subjugated first during the Russian Empire and then in Soviet times.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210401-new-law-stokes-ukraine-language-tensions
 

Gambit

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It's not an article, it's a book by a fascist fantasist.
Yes it is, but it gained great interest by Putin and the Russian military, even being seen as essential reading. Dugin became and advisor to the government on geopolitics. There is a lot of nonsense in there but it's influence is still being felt.
 

BlueHaze

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It very well could since Putin seems increasingly unhinged. Just thank your lucky stars that Trump is gone and the west are generally galvanized as one.
In all of his recent speeches he looks completely psychotic. I don't even recognize him.

When the leader of a powerful nation is in this state it's bad news.
 

Rajma

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Quite a few years ago, it’s not even taught at schools any longer. People who try to speak Russian in public are sanctioned.
You feckin lunatic probably have not even stepped your feckin leg in Ukraine and you’re spreading total lies. I have been to Ukraine on many occasions and people talk Russian freely without any issues as was I. Majority still speak Russian in Kiev at least.
 

Water Melon

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You feckin lunatic probably have not even stepped your feckin leg in Ukraine and you’re spreading total lies. I have been to Ukraine on many occasions and people talk Russian freely without any issues as was I. Majority still speak Russian in Kiev at least.
Absolutely. I have lived in Kyiv, Odessa and Lviv and had no problem whatsoever while speaking Russian.
 

Vidyoyo

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Bum flaps?

It's difficult to be funny in this thread :(
You say that but I remember a time a little jumped up nation next to mine had the temerity to think invasion was too good for them. They even built a time machine and stole famous Hollywood actor Mel Gibson and while he had his spot in the sunshine for a few hours the film never got a sequel and the country only ended up becoming known for funny accents, cake (of varying kinds) and some shite called buckfast.

I guess what I'm saying is you're right - it is hard to be funny in this thread.
 

TMDaines

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You feckin lunatic probably have not even stepped your feckin leg in Ukraine and you’re spreading total lies. I have been to Ukraine on many occasions and people talk Russian freely without any issues as was I. Majority still speak Russian in Kiev at least.
Absolutely. I have lived in Kyiv, Odessa and Lviv and had no problem whatsoever while speaking Russian.
I encourage you to report him to mods. Mask has slipped in his last few posts. Just posting complete bollocks now about anti-Russia(n) stuff.
 

VorZakone

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The two important ones were: Calling up the reserves fully, and redistributing medical peoples to fully staff field hospitals (including reserve 'civilian' personel)

I don't think his current configuration is expecting many casualties.
 

harms

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When did they ban Russian language?
They didn’t ban it in its entirety thought, but since 2014 they’ve been a few laws introduced that significantly influenced the right of Russian-speaking population (feck sake, I’m beginning to sound like Putin).
% quotas on TV & radio, the ban on the use of Russian language in schools & universities etc.

It was not a smart move.
 

harms

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I believe the first part, but I'm not sure I believe the second.
I very much doubt that it’s true as well. But there are many mind blowing specific cases — any public events have to be in Ukrainian, any official services and even shops also need to speak Ukrainian, any Ukrainian press that publishes content in Russian needs to publish the same amount of copies of the same content but in Ukrainian…
 

Mr Pigeon

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You say that but I remember a time a little jumped up nation next to mine had the temerity to think invasion was too good for them. They even built a time machine and stole famous Hollywood actor Mel Gibson and while he had his spot in the sunshine for a few hours the film never got a sequel and the country only ended up becoming known for funny accents, cake (of varying kinds) and some shite called buckfast.

I guess what I'm saying is you're right - it is hard to be funny in this thread.
To quote Frankie Boyle; nobody could believe Mel Gibson was a real Scotsman in BraveHeart. And look at him now; an alcoholic racist.

Anyway, back to the horrible build up of Russian troops...
 

TMDaines

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They didn’t ban it in its entirety thought, but since 2014 they’ve been a few laws introduced that significantly influenced the right of Russian-speaking population (feck sake, I’m beginning to sound like Putin).
% quotas on TV & radio, the ban on the use of Russian language in schools & universities etc.

It was not a smart move.
THE TEACHING OF RUSSIAN IS NOT BANNED IN UKRAINIAN SCHOOLS.

I think it is a difficult balance for any country to strike when they need to promote and defend their own language, which only has real status there, against the lingua francas from the big neighbouring cultural powerhouses. If they don’t protect their language and implement policies to ensure its continued teaching and survival, it will wither and die out. Places like Wales, Iceland, Luxembourg and the baltic states all have to strike a careful balance.

Part of it is about integration though. You had a situation where huge parts of Ukraine had a high proportion of school leavers who couldn’t pass the Ukrainian language to the basic standard to the requirement to enter the university. That doesn’t benefit anyone, to have people with Russian-speaking parents going to school unable to get by in Ukrainian and only have limited opportunities for further education.

I definitely don’t think Poroshenko was striking the right balance on this and think any Ukrainian president needs to be more pragmatic in promoting and protecting Ukrainian, whilst accepting a large minority of Russian speakers in the country. That’s partly why Zelenskyy won the last election.
 

Simbo

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The two important ones were: Calling up the reserves fully, and redistributing medical peoples to fully staff field hospitals (including reserve 'civilian' personel)

I don't think his current configuration is expecting many casualties.
This is Russian National Guard basically.

 

Water Melon

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They will move in in the next 24 hours it seems. Hell is about to break loose. What a shite moment in history to live in. Russia's economy will not recover anytime soon. Expecting massive immigration from Russia.
 

Rajma

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THE TEACHING OF RUSSIAN IS NOT BANNED IN UKRAINIAN SCHOOLS.

I think it is a difficult balance for any country to strike when they need to promote and defend their own language, which only has real status there, against the lingua francas from the big neighbouring cultural powerhouses. If they don’t protect their language and implement policies to ensure its continued teaching and survival, it will wither and die out. Places like Wales, Iceland, Luxembourg and the baltic states all have to strike a careful balance.

Part of it is about integration though. You had a situation where huge parts of Ukraine had a high proportion of school leavers who couldn’t pass the Ukrainian language to the basic standard to the requirement to enter the university. That doesn’t benefit anyone, to have people with Russian-speaking parents going to school unable to get by in Ukrainian and only have limited opportunities for further education.

I definitely don’t think Poroshenko was striking the right balance on this and think any Ukrainian president needs to be more pragmatic in promoting and protecting Ukrainian, whilst accepting a large minority of Russian speakers in the country. That’s partly why Zelenskyy won the last election.
100% this.
 

Danny1982

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What's the point of publishing this kind of relatively sensitive information (militarily speaking) publicly? I've never seen a country publish its intelligence for the whole world (including the enemy) in the middle of a conflict. This tells me one thing, nobody in this camp seems to pin a lot of hope on the military resistance, their objective at the moment seems to be mainly setting the ground in the media for the upcoming sanctions.
 

nimic

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What's the point of publishing this kind of relatively sensitive information (militarily speaking) publicly? I've never seen a country publish its intelligence for the whole world (including the enemy) in the middle of a conflict. This tells me one thing, nobody in this camp seems to pin a lot of hope on the military resistance, their objective at the moment seems to be mainly setting the ground in the media for the upcoming sanctions.
Presumably the point is to make them not go through with it, and to show them how transparent and easily accessible their intentions are. What would be the point in keeping it secret?
 

Water Melon

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Presumably the point is to make them not go through with it, and to show them how transparent and easily accessible their intentions are. What would be the point in keeping it secret?
This. Moreover, it is very unlikely that all intel data is being made public. Most probably, some incorrect information is being spread purposefully as well.
 

BlueHaze

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One day passed is another day closer to a historical disaster. As if late 2019 till now hasn't been fecked up already now it's about to get ten times worse. Truly a great time to be alive...