Posted on 02/23/2022 9:39:43 PM PST by Cronos
Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a "military operation" in Ukraine's Donbas region
He urges Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine to lay down weapons and return to their homes
Putin warns that Moscow's response will be "instant" if anyone tries to take on Russia
Ukraine's foreign minister accuses Russia of starting a full-scale war, and urges the UN "to do everything possible" to stop it
BBC Kyiv correspondent James Waterhouse says a Ukrainian government official has given an indication of the breadth of the Russian military action so far.
The official says there have been cruise missile strikes launched this morning on Kyiv, as well as troop movements in Odessa to the south of the country.
Troops have also been crossing the border in Kharkiv, about 25 miles from the Russian border, the official says.
Early signs according to witnesses and government officials are that this is something quite large-scale, Waterhouse says.
There are also multiple reports from local media citing Ukraine's Interior Ministry which says some of the missile strikes have attacked Ukraine's military missile command centres and military headquarters in Kyiv.
Russia's defence ministry has denied attacking Ukrainian cities - saying it is targeting military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with "high-precision weapons".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
western europe is already a vassal state to russia ever since it went “green” and shut down its nuke and coal plants and imported 30% of their energy from russia ... russia has already won its war with western europe without firing a shot ...
makes zero sense for the U.S. to involve itself in yet ANOTHER European war that the idiots brought upon themselves in the first place ...
Russia has a lot of land.
China views Russian land as a future part of China to be lived on by China’s people.
If China's feeling a bit over-crowded, Russia has the nukes to help ease China's population burden.
bookmark putin speech
“What if some of those nukes removed by Ukraine in 92 were never accounted for? One in a Moscow subway could end this all pretty quickly.”
That would be a game changer.
what?
Being like other nations that Yaweah I Am couldn’t stand.
US. Womb baby infant murderers.
I have no doubt they kept something. Probably won’t use it though. I hope not. This is already a huge mess.
MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry says the Russian military has destroyed 74 Ukrainian military facilities, including 11 air bases.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered that Ukrainian servicemen be treated “with respect” and those who lay down their weapons offered safe corridors.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the loss of a Su-25 attack jet due to “pilor error.”
I don’t have time to read all that I missed last night, but skimming it I noticed a lot of Russian propaganda posts from users who have been here a long time. Have people lost their minds? The ripple effects of this will not be good for ANY of us.
Russia over the past thirty years, despite very spotty political leadership, was slowly recovering from the debilitation of nearly ninety years of suffocating, murderous communism. Its people were becoming productive, foreign investment in all sectors was increasing and Russia, an inherently wealthy country seemed to be transforming itself. Now thanks to either paranoia or sheer bad judgment Putin has wiped most of that away. The foreign investment, which not only created wealth but intellectual exchanges that led to insights will largely cease. Ukraine will not be a thirty day campaign followed by a docile pro Russian regime. It will be worse than Afghanistan. The Russians will find it a debilitating sore that ultimately will cause consternation within Russia. Russia in the end will be weaker, less politically stable and poorer. Yet as Pasternak said ,the Russian people accept such things and have a loathsome capacity for suffering.
You should find another group to troll for Russia.
I was invited to lecture to college kids in Moscow ~1995. (College Of Business And Management in Moscow)
I was impressed with their civility, manners and ambition. And they were very smart. Reminded me of American college kids in the early 60s.
One of the last things was that I felt they were going to accomplish great things.
I never trusted Putin. He's so egotistical he always reminded me of Clinton. Two fools in the same pod.
Well, the rant aside, it was easy for Poland and most of the rest of NATO to run with the US providing most of the muscle. The US encouraged that for a number of reasons, many of which seemed pretty reasonable at the time, especially given Europe’s history. History warns that you don’t want a bunch of pretty capable military powers filling up Europe, even if they seem to be allies at the moment. So, you encourage ‘em to be militarily um, limited (and in the case of the Germans you REALLY pussify them.) Plus, NATO had just added several members and I’m sure the thought was that collectively NATO had more than enough strength. Putin even confirmed this recently, giving that collective strength as the reason Russia wanted to maintain its nuclear threat. Essentially “We (Russia) can’t beat NATO (in a conventional war), but we have lots of nukes to throw around.”
Secondarily, the idea was for these added countries to develop economically as fast as possible, giving hopefully a reasonably level and very lucrative trading environment to everyone (and not coincidentally leaving Russia in the economic dust), again resulting in a strong collective defense effort, but weak individual defenses.
Through Bush II, this seemed to work fairly well, and complacency set in. Not to mention the weenie factor. A few visionaries may sense trouble as Putin’s Russia gained military strength, but to move an entire political establishment and maybe more importantly, a population, to accept new sacrifices when normalcy bias and desire for comfort predominate... That’s just pretty darn tough.
Even since 2014, and one can be sure Russian disinformation campaigning in Poland has dwarfed anything we see in the US, it’s just too easy to believe the conflict in Ukraine was limited, basically under control, and surely Putin would not launch the biggest war in Europe since WW2. I mean “that’s crazy, right?” All things considered, Poland getting up to 2.2% of GDP for defense spending is certainly better than most of NATO.
In hindsight, sure, big mistake. Should have become a big bad wolf.
We’re no better @ present, when you get right down to it. With what kind of a population could we have a Biden get even 1/3 of the vote?
Note to self: New meme to promote - Any flop, failure, breakage due to weakness, idiotic move, boomerang, etc., is now “a Biden”. Any basketball player who takes an exaggerated fall when barely brushed by an opponent? Sarcastically: “Well, that’s a real Biden.”
The possibilities are endless.
Obnoxious, brutal, despicable, dishonest, bullying, foul, etc., behavior is a “Putin”.
Meanwhile... I’m listening to these pundits on TV. The only one who’s said anything I respect is Bill Taylor, former Ambassador to Ukraine under PDJT. The rest are advocating “severe” sanctions. Idiots. Sanctions alone are not gonna do it. We have to erode Putin’s economy out from under him by totally undercutting with over-production his strongest asset: Energy. And, like Reagan, but with freaking Euro NATO countries cranked up this time, engage Putin in an arms race that will break Russia’s economy into rubble.
Now, back to Poland: Putin is surely almost maximally extended already. Let’s have the Japanese tweak him a bit. Maybe run some big exercises right off Russian waters wherever practical, including amphibious landing craft. Stretch him, stretch him, stretch him. That’s really what NATO is set up to do. Do that, and I think the Poles, given lots of support, will do ok.
Fresh intel from my contacts in Ukraine.
The Russians miss a lot of the Ukraine military assets because they relocated assets before the Air/Missile strikes.
Ukraine Army is holding their own, they are not rolling over.
My contacts are ready to fight.
They sure as heck hit some.
“This will be no military cakewalk.”
If not a cakewalk, easy nonetheless.
No contest.
“and that Ukraine must be demilitarized”
That is Russia’s essential interest.
They will pursue their essential interest.
Ukraine was no threat to Russia. This is a land grab and ego driven.
“but if Biden were to apply his Ukraine policy to Taiwan,it would display a weakness that China would be hard pressed not to exploit”
The difference between Taiwan and Ukraine is that we have essential national interests in Taiwan.
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