Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

The Purley King

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Funny thing is, this guy isn't just speaking truth now. He was speaking it before the conflict.

Here's a translated article of his from 20 days prior to the war.


Like a modern day Cassandra he correctly predicted the enormity and difficulty of the task of subjugating a nation the size of Ukraine, only for his voice to be drowned out by the chorus of Kremlin boot-lickers and war-hawks who kept saying Ukraine would fold in hours or minutes. He also predicted that there could well be a unified response from NATO, even down to guessing there would be a lend-lease agreement for high tech weapons and western volunteer fighters.
Can he be president?
 

Gehrman

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Saw on Danish news today that Ukraine forces managed to kill 500 Russian soldiers and destroy 80 Russian tanks trying to cross a river in Eastern Ukraine.
 

MadMike

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They will likely get some concessions on terming PKK militias as terrorists and an end to arms embargo and that will likely be it. F-35s are contingent on the Turks getting rid of their S-400, now more than ever. No way the US will back down on this and they know it well enough.

The article said:
Turkey accepted Greece’s return to NATO in the 1980s after the two countries fought a war in 1974 over Cyprus, and is keen not to repeat what the officials say is now viewed in Ankara as a mistake.

Athens and its Cypriot allies later emerged as key obstacles blocking Turkey’s bid for membership in the EU, rejected a UN vote on a unification plan for Cyprus, and have been engaged in constant territorial disputes with Turkey over parts of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
That's some sort of parallel reality from Turkish politicians again. There wasn't a country in Europe as enthusiastic as Greece about Turkey's potential ascension to the EU. Pretty much all territorial disputes would be resolved by Turkey becoming a co-signatory to the UNCLOS (* United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) which the EU is a signatory to as an institution. Greek government was also pro-Annan plan for the unification of Cyprus, in the 2004 referendum on the island. Greece did block N.Macedonian entry into NATO until the naming dispute was resolved, but it never blocked Turkey. In fact, the opposite...

Wikipedia said:
The issue of Turkish membership has been contentious in Greece. An opinion poll from 2005 suggested that only 25% of Greeks believe Turkey has a place in the European Union.[118] The former Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis stated that Turkish membership of the EU could only be predicated upon, "full compliance, full accession" in December 2006.[119] In 2005 the European Commission referred to relations between Turkey and Greece as "continuing to develop positively"[120] while also citing a key barrier to progress being Turkey's ongoing claim of casus belli over a dispute about territorial waters boundaries.[120] In September 2017, Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, mentioned that halting accession talks with Turkey would be a strategic mistake by the European Union, amid a war of words raging between Germany and Turkey.[121] Also, former Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, has urged European Union leaders to keep the doors open to Turkey and to continue dialogue with the Turkish government, in an apparent reference to the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's calls for the suspension of accession talks with Turkey.[122]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union#Greece

The only real reason Turkey regrets letting Greece back into NATO is because they are protected by article 5. They still have an active casus belli threat against Greece, a fellow NATO member, if they unilaterally increase their territorial waters to 12nm as mandated by UNCLOS. While simultaneously rejecting an open offer since 1976 to settle the dispute at the ICJ . But sure, it's Greece that's been the problem.
 
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frostbite

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https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097911440/lithuania-russia-terrorism-genocide-ukraine

It is telling how the Russians dismiss Lithuania: "a small country", "the West made them do it" and so on. Not one of these Russians says "we attacked a neighbor for no good reason, it is understandable that other neighbors are afraid". Not one of these Russians feels any responsibility for the thousands who died in Ukraine, or for the millions who had to leave their homes.


 

stevoc

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plus it’s the nonchalant way he’s trying to drop it to see if the pin comes out. Mental.
The pin wouldn't have came out, he was demonstrating how the grenade would explode on impact. The pin would be removed before the grenade is placed inside the plastic case, which opens on impact detonating the grenade.
 

GlastonSpur

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The BBC reports:

"Belarussian leader Aleksander Lukashenko has signed a bill broadening the scope of the death penalty to include attempted acts of terrorism.

When Vladimir Putin launched his Ukraine invasion, Belarus was a critical element, providing a springboard for a lightning assault on the capital Kyiv.

But one thing he didn't count on was rail sabotage. From the word go, a clandestine network of railway workers, hackers and dissident security forces went into action to disrupt railway links, wreaking havoc on Russian supply lines.

Many Russian troops were left stranded on the front lines without food, fuel and ammunition. Now, alleged saboteurs in Belarus could face the firing squad, while the same law will apply to activists who organised the anti-Lukashenko protests a couple of years ago."
 

GlastonSpur

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David Petraeus, retired United States Army general and ex-Director of the CIA, says that somewhere between 15k and 25k Russian military are now dead. If we take the middle figure of 20k dead (noting that that Ukrainian estimate is 30k), this implies 80,000 Russians now out of action one way or another:

 

harms

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A very rough yet somewhat fascinating watch — you can call it a documentary, I guess. Ukrainians have created this movie from the footage that was found on the phone of one of the captured Russian soldiers.

It has English subtitles, make sure to turn them on.

 

Raoul

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A very rough yet somewhat fascinating watch — you can call it a documentary, I guess. Ukrainians have created this movie from the footage that was found on the phone of one of the captured Russian soldiers.

It has English subtitles, make sure to turn them on.

That was a damn good watch. Assuming he's still alive, this kid will likely get into serious trouble for vlogging as much as he did.
 

stevoc

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I'm genuinely interested but does anyone know if Russian state TV/Propaganda try to push the narrative that Russia are the only country with nukes?

Otherwise it's a strange threat to make because shortly after they launched nukes at anywhere in Western Europe or North America there would be just as many nukes heading towards Russia.
 

Mihai

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I'm genuinely interested but does anyone know if Russian state TV/Propaganda try to push the narrative that Russia are the only country with nukes?

Otherwise it's a strange threat to make because shortly after they launched nukes at anywhere in Western Europe or North America there would be just as many nukes heading towards Russia.
It's the only threat they have that is not laughable. They know NATO is superior in conventional war (I think Putin even stated this publicly on several occasions).
 

Red Rash

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I'm genuinely interested but does anyone know if Russian state TV/Propaganda try to push the narrative that Russia are the only country with nukes?

Otherwise it's a strange threat to make because shortly after they launched nukes at anywhere in Western Europe or North America there would be just as many nukes heading towards Russia.
I think at this stage they are using the Nuke word as a way to ensure Nato doesn't become militarily involved in Ukraine.

When it comes to conventional war they have proven themselves to be utterly incompetent and if they didn't have the threat of Nuclear weapons, they probably realise Nato would have ended this by now.

I've noticed that periodically Russia will drop the threat of Nukes but in reality no one would ever want that to happen because the repercussions on Russia would be huge. They just want to keep that deterrent in place so no one messes with them
 

GlastonSpur

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From the BBC:

"Russian troops are increasingly refusing to take part in combat in Ukraine, the Ukrainian defence ministry's main intelligence directorate says.

In a post on the Telegram messenging service, it says several units of the 70th Guards Motorised Regiment have openly refused to take part in the war and demanded that they be returned to the areas where they are normally deployed.

Unit commanders are making every effort to hide the cases of disobedience, the directorate says, with the most un-cooperative servicemen "sent to the most dangerous area of the front-line in the hope that they would be killed quickly", the post claims.

The agency says the Russian Federal Security Service has decided to infiltrate the regiment's units with "agents and informants".

The BBC is not able to verify this information independently."
 

GlastonSpur

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The BBC reports:

"Kremlin insider admits to war 'difficulties'

Another pro-Kremlin voice has admitted to "difficulties" in the war with Ukraine, which Russia calls a 'special military operation'.

But Rashid Nurgaliyev, a deputy secretary of Vladimir Putin's Security Council, insisted Russia would achieve its objectives - including the "denazification of Ukraine".
It follows remarks by a retired colonel and military analyst on primetime Russian TV earlier this week, in which Mikhail Khodarenok warned "the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse".

"We are in total political isolation and the whole world is against us, even if we don't want to admit it," said Khodarenok, while appearing on flagship talk show 60 Minutes.
Russia's Security Council is today holding a meeting with nearly 100 foreign ambassadors to discuss the threats posed by "closed laboratories" and "neo-Nazism".

Nurgaliyev told the gathered ambassadors: "In spite of all the existing difficulties, the special military operation will be completed - while its objectives, including the ones to do with the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine, [and] defence of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic will be carried out in full."

His remarks were reported by Russia's Interfax news agency.
BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg has suggested the Kremlin may be preparing the Russian public for negative news on the progress of the invasion."
 

MoskvaRed

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The BBC reports:

"Kremlin insider admits to war 'difficulties'

Another pro-Kremlin voice has admitted to "difficulties" in the war with Ukraine, which Russia calls a 'special military operation'.

But Rashid Nurgaliyev, a deputy secretary of Vladimir Putin's Security Council, insisted Russia would achieve its objectives - including the "denazification of Ukraine".
It follows remarks by a retired colonel and military analyst on primetime Russian TV earlier this week, in which Mikhail Khodarenok warned "the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse".

"We are in total political isolation and the whole world is against us, even if we don't want to admit it," said Khodarenok, while appearing on flagship talk show 60 Minutes.
Russia's Security Council is today holding a meeting with nearly 100 foreign ambassadors to discuss the threats posed by "closed laboratories" and "neo-Nazism".

Nurgaliyev told the gathered ambassadors: "In spite of all the existing difficulties, the special military operation will be completed - while its objectives, including the ones to do with the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine, [and] defence of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic will be carried out in full."

His remarks were reported by Russia's Interfax news agency.
BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg has suggested the Kremlin may be preparing the Russian public for negative news on the progress of the invasion."
It definitely sounds like Russian state TV is starting to downplay expectations and get the public ready for some bad news (albeit still a distortion of what’s actually been happening).
 

Sir Matt

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Probably better for the Whataboutery thread, but I don't go in there:


:lol: :lol: :lol:

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
 
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Pintu

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Probably better for the Whataboutery thread, but I don't go in there:


:lol: :lol: :lol:

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Hilarious Freudian slip. :lol: :lol:

Deep down, all the brutality of the Iraq invasion is nearby in GWB’s mind and what Putin is doing reminds him of his own “achievements”.

He got away with it, he should be living a quite life away from the light but instead he is being given platforms to lecture people about right and wrong. Not to mention his own contribution to the rise of Putin’s rule. His reaction when Putin fecked up Grozny was inexistant and very shy again when Putin invaded Georgia..