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French special forces deployed to French Embassy in Kyiv, apparently there's also been an official statement (frm minister of foreign affairs) that France is ready to ensure Zelenskyy's safety. Important assurance given obv threat to Zelenskyy's life but also an opportunity for someone to trigger a massive clusterfuck.
Sanctions aren't going to do shit until they start effecting the wider Russian economy. You can't just freeze Putin's hypothetical assets in Europe, fuckers fixed on making an empire.
I'm not sure whom you're addressing but I'm pretty sure that's not an answer to either of my questions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
Just a general comment, not addressed at you.
Russia vetoes UNSC resolution condemning the invasion. Importantly (??) China abstained. Sadly, so did India.
Some sources report Russia has deployed cluster munitions. Others expecting thermobaric bombs to be used against civilian targets in Kyiv soon.
:up: :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
Not really. China isn't going to support that kind of resolution for obvious reasons but since Russia is going to veto it they don't need to vote against it and really they're not any more fond of Russia being grabby and aggressive then the rest of us are. They share an actual border with Russia themselves, remember. Russian resurgence is an implicit threat to China.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
China has gone out of their way to support Russia this time: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/u...a-ukraine.html
In exchange for help with Taiwan?? Weakening the effects of economic sanctions? I mean the world cannot sanction them both to the hilt and expect there to still be an economy on Earth. Right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
edit: We need to expedite chip factory construction on a very large scale very quickly. I may need to come out of retirement...
edit2: I believe most wafer manufacturing has moved offshore too. Maybe still some up in Washington but not enough.
edit3: Hadn't given this much thought until now, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/21/foxc...-by-trump.html
They probably figure most of the world hates them, so might as well form tighter links with those who don't.
This isn't going like the Russians expected at all.
Oh my...Quote:
Originally Posted by Being
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...MJe?li=BBnb7Kz
Wow. SWIFT access is on the verge of being closed down?
Just Hungary standing in the way now, according to what I've read.
Strange, I read that Oban will support any EU sanction, including Swift.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
The current conflict looks too close for comfort for Hungarians who still remember 1956.
Kyiv: full consensus for disconnecting Russia from SWIFT has been achieved, the process has begun
https://www.uawire.org/kyiv-full-con...cess-has-begun
A friend is going to see a Russian Ballet performance of Swan Lake today. I commented that it should be fun watching the Russians dance around on their tippy toes. Her reply astonished me, she asked if she should bring seeds they can put in their pockets...
Fields of sunflowers is one of those sayings I hope sticks with humanity for a while. Go fuck yourself is already up there as the tagline for this invasion.
From it's grandmothers to its leadership, Putin has shown the world that ukrainians are fucking badasses.
This proactive approach the citizens, its leadership, and it's allies have taken to getting information out of Ukraine has really thrown a wrench into the Russian propaganda machine. Even the Ghost of Kyiv took forever to debunk.
Just read that Russia has accomplished (what I believe to be) one of its main objectives. Securing Crimea's water supply. I get that Russia wants its Iron Curtain back, but I wouldn't be surprised, if the invasion continues to fail like it is, to see the canal used in bargaining.
I mean their supply lines are wonky, their tanks are outta fuel, Ukrainians are driving around offering to tow them back to Russia, Russian conscripts appear to have been tricked... Putin's next move is likely to be some pretty severe atrocities aimed at scaring cities into surrendering, and it's not gonna work.
The Swan Lake score itself is symbolic enough, really: https://hazlitt.net/feature/portento...oviet-politicsQuote:
Originally Posted by Being
I think that's a recent development, either hadn't happened when I posted or I hadn't seen it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
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Originally Posted by Aimless
I think you're overestimating how poorly it's going vs how they were prepared for it to go. Russian objectives, it seems to be, are secure and either annex or establish a puppet state in the eastern regions where they've been formenting unrest and fighting for the last eight years, make Crimea more secure, and establish if not a puppet government over the rest of the Ukraine then at least a Russian-friendly one which knows who it ought to be looking to, backed by Russian security forces. The 1st isn't accomplished yet but is almost inevitable. The 2nd is accomplished though that could be turned around if somehow they fail on #1. And a minimum #3 was a place Ukraine was in not even ten years ago. It's not exactly a bastion of free democracy right now, just a bit more of one than before the 2004 and 2014 protests against the Russian-supported Yanukovych. Putin thinks he can turn back the clock and do a better job of keeping the pro-Russian government(s) in power and he may well be right. If he can cause enough unrest he could even accomplish it without taking Kiev though seizing the capital makes it rather easier. The long-term success depends on a rather different set of factors than this military campaign.
It's about to kick off in Kyiv.
I am seriously surprised that you talk about the possibility of a long term success. Aside from the situation in Ukraine, where long term success would be the installation of yet another puppet regime dancing to the Russian tune, what Putin already has achieved is a build up of NATO force on his own borders with almost certain massive increases in defensive spending in Europe. I don't know about you Americans, but here in Europe we know very well that what Ukraine shows, is that Putin is an enemy who's not likely to stop once Kyiv falls. And if I as a Dutch citizen didn't get that, my fellow Europeans in parts of Europe bordering Russia would be there to make me aware of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy
TLDR: this war's only certain long term success will be Putin's worst nightmare already having been achieved
Just wondering : when did you start using Kyiv? I switched from Kiev to Kyiv on the day of the invasion, when I was made aware of the difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
I mean, it's not a word I have cause to write much but like you, since I became aware of the difference.
Well I didn't see that coming, Germany actually doing the right thing.
The situation in Ukraine is what I'm talking about and I do think he'll stop there if he can get his Russia-adhering regime installed. For a year or two. And I don't know the region well enough to predict with confidence whether Putin can set up and maintain that regime. He failed before but he appears confident he can manage now, with the eastern separatists trained and blooded over the last few years and Russian experiences with manipulating elections. I do know the West well enough to NOT have confidence in their ability/interest in stopping it or rolling it backQuote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
You are entirely missing the point; Thursday morning Putin started war in Europe by invading Ukraine. We are concerned about Ukraine, but what unites Europe now is the struggle for survival that we have been thrown in utterly unprepared. We are uniting not to support Ukraine but to save ourselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy
And this is the miscalculation Putin made; he thought that the EU, again, would lull itself back to sleep as he would simply take back what was his in the first place. 'We' though took it for a wake up call.
Public discourse here has changed beyond recognition. In the Netherlands the Green party all of a sudden wants to spend more on defense, Labour's left extremists were forced to retract support for an anti-nato open letter, Scandinavia is re-thinking its relation to nato.
And do I seriously have to mention that Germany has probably cut itself off from Russian fuel by consenting to throw Russian banks out of Swift. That this constitutes 40% of their natural gas needs?
Again, this is a European war, with a hot phase in Ukraine.
I hope he got permission from the US government. Talk about possible international repercussions because of one individual citizen making decisions to interfere with a war that is not even on his soil. Dangerous is a more appropriate description if it is not sanctioned by our government.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
edit: Lewk, if Musk pisses off Putin to the point he launches nukes, do you think he will try to single out Musk with those nukes?
Lmao what? You do realize there is no law that prevents Musk from providing internet overseas. The United States isn't at war with Russia or Ukraine and to my knowledge there are no sanctions against Ukraine in effect meaning there is zero issue with Elon doing this. Also I'm pretty sure Putin has bigger issues than Elon Musk providing satellite internet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Being
What kind of stupid comment is this? Why don't you send the keys of your house and car to Putin right here and now if you are this worried about not getting in his way?Quote:
Originally Posted by Being
Yeah, see, this is why Elon wants to get to Mars. It's so Putin can't get him with nukes.Quote:
edit: Lewk, if Musk pisses off Putin to the point he launches nukes, do you think he will try to single out Musk with those nukes?
Take of the century.
Putin orders nuclear command on high alert:
Twitter Link
Likelihood of being assassinated rising.
So this is what I said a few days ago:Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy
The post you replied to is about something else—I was thinking about Putin's options for salvaging the dog's breakfast he's made of the campaign beyond Donbas. Even if you regard that as a secondary or bonus objective, he does need a way to not lose that campaign.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
Russian intelligence has leaked a propaganda video trying to undermine Zelenskyy
Twitter Link
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Originally Posted by Lewkowski
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Originally Posted by Lewkowski
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Originally Posted by Hazir
You are all willing to put the direction of US war strategy into the hands of one single man? Even POTUS doesn't have that power (in theory). And if you think this is wise, could you choose a more unstable individual?Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
You seem to have no problem with that concept if that one man is Vladimir Putin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Being
All the West does is based in the foreign policy choice of seeing Ukraine as a sovereign country defending itself against an aggressor. Now you explain how Musks action isn't in full accordance.