Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Iphie]

So, there's some twitter chatter about a " visibly drunk putin". To be honest that would be very out of character for him.

[YUPPIE]

It's been a while since Zelensky was named person of the year by TIME, but it's only today Russia openly condemns TIME for choosing him over Putin.

[Elder Millennial]

Er, while I generally agree with the lack of severity, you do not fuck with other countries' laws. Americans have got to fucking learn to respect the fact that the world doesn't end at US borders. Seriously. It's not a surprise what Russians consider crimes. In fact, when you land in Malaysia, they warn you pretty directly that bringing weed means the death penalty in that country. Wonder what she would have done there.

For all the hate I could muster up against Russia, if this was law in Russia and she violated it, I'd say she shoulda served out the sentence instead of hoping for American exceptionalism, which she apparently got. One more lady that will promote the attitude that no country's laws matter except the US...

On principle I agree with you.

What complicates this specific case was the convergence of 3 factors. Her relative public persona (Olympian, professional athlete with some name recognition and institutional backing), the timing of her arrest (just as relations between the US and Russia nose dived in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine) and the sheer cruelty and severity of her treatment relative to the crime.

Countries like Iran and North Korea have long engaged in this type of hostage taking diplomacy. Detain the citizen or a dual citizen of a country you have beef with either on real or trumped up charges, throw unnecessarily cruel punishment or treatment at them to force their families to mount political pressure campaigns and proceed to negotiate some type of political, economic or prisoner exchange deal.

I think this is what we were seeing here with Griner specifically. Malaysia for example doesn't engage in this sort of behavior. They just execute you and treat you horribly because that's simply what happens in their legal system, and that's the reason why they also don't include convicts in their trade negotiations and prisoner exchanges. The very eagerness to engage in these sort of negotiations changes the nature of their imprisonment.

Russia is effectively a hostage taking nation.

The other prisoner, Whelan is a more complicated case. I looked into him a bit and there are layers to that one. Whelan was arrested at a time when Russian-US relations were relatively normal. Furthermore Whelan is a shady character, he was dishonorably discharged from the Marines after being convicted for larceny and falsifying records and reports (never ever mentioned in the media where they usually just speak of him as a former Navy man), he has a track record of lying about his qualifications and professional background, yet somehow he ended up getting a law enforcement job (confusing as shit how exactly considering his record) which he leveraged into a private sector security job. In Russia he was arrested by a division of the FSB that's specialized in financial crimes and he had 80K USD cash on him at the time of his arrest.

What likely happened there is that the guy got caught up in some shady Russian corruption crapshow, way over in over his head, and the Russians just decided to accuse him of espionage so they could trade him for some other Russian oligarch/mobster/spy etc. I think originally the Russians tried to trade him for Maria Butina at the time, but likely the Trump administration didn't bite due to the optics related to that.

But yeah, main point being.

If you're a westerner it's time you reconsider any trips you might have lined up to Russia. But then again, we still see westerns and dual citizens constantly traveling to dumb places like North Korea and Iran cuz...reasons.

[Yunru]

So, there's some twitter chatter about a " visibly drunk putin". To be honest that would be very out of character for him.

Probably its his body double.
Could also be a deepfake

[Gabriel]

Vodka is a helluva drug.

[Iphie]

Vodka is a helluva drug.

Right, but that's the thing, by all accounts he's not a big drinker.

[YUPPIE]

It doesn't make Putin's actions right, but he always mentions American imperialism when it comes to justifying himself.

[Xyonai]

It doesn't make Putin's actions right, but he always mentions American imperialism when it comes to justifying himself.

That's what we call 'Whataboutism'. it's not a new or novel concept and it's been displayed on this very thread by dozens of people all the fuckin' time.

So you're right, it's not justification, Putin's just clutching his pearls about people being mean to him because he decided to brutalize a neighboring country.

[Makabreska]

Vodka is a helluva drug.

Am alr partaking some!

- - - Updated - - -

Right, but that's the thing, by all accounts he's not a big drinker.

How much do we really know about him plus this year events gave him all the reason to drink.

- - - Updated - - -

That's what we call 'Whataboutism'. it's not a new or novel concept and it's been displayed on this very thread by dozens of people all the fuckin' time.

So you're right, it's not justification, Putin's just clutching his pearls about people being mean to him because he decided to brutalize a neighboring country.

Well, he successfully uses this colonial rhetoric in Africa and Arabian Peninsula.

[Kaleredar]

It doesn't make Putin's actions right, but he always mentions American imperialism when it comes to justifying himself.

Who cares?

[Gabriel]

Right, but that's the thing, by all accounts he's not a big drinker.

If there ever was a man who ought to pick up drinking, it is Putin.

[Vladier]

How much do we really know about him plus this year events gave him all the reason to drink.

Reportedly, Putin is actually annoyed at his entourage for taking to heavy drinking over stress from this whole war.

Granted, we can most likely tell that it's not vodka he's been drinking in the video, given that he's visibly holding a glass of champagne.

[Elder Millennial]

Right, but that's the thing, by all accounts he's not a big drinker.

Of course he's not. Fun is not allowed.

[Corvus]

Been a while since we've had an episode of what's on fire in the russia.

Massive shopping mall fire in moscow, complete with hardware store exploding spectacularly.


Another factory going up in flames, this one making military tyres. Oops.

[YUPPIE]

while I don't want to cite the Daily Beast among other things, numerous credible sources similarly say some of the numerous rapists/killers Putin conscripted from prisons have murdered their commanding officers in "brutal fashion" before going MIA.

[Iphie]

while I don't want to cite the Daily Beast among other things, numerous credible sources similarly say some of the numerous rapists/killers Putin conscripted from prisons have murdered their commanding officers in "brutal fashion" before going MIA.

*Insert Surprise Pikachu face Meme* Who'd a thunk?

[YUPPIE]

After Putin has threatened the nuclear rhetoric on an unprecedented scale this week, his close ally and friend, Modi, has refused to attend a summit with him

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold an annual in-person summit this year, an Indian government source said on Friday, after the two held discussions on the sidelines of an event in September.

Bloomberg News reported earlier in the day that the decision to cancel the summit was taken after veiled threats by Putin to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war.

India, which has become one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil along with China since the war began in February, has not explicitly condemned what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

[Elder Millennial]

his close ally and friend, Modi

Modi is neither an ally nor a friend of Putin's.

India does a lot of fence sitting for it's own geopolitical reasons and lack of an ethical backbone but calling Modi either a friend or an ally of Moscow is a leap.

[YUPPIE]

India does a lot of fence sitting for it's own geopolitical reasons and lack of an ethical backbone but calling Modi either a friend or an ally of Moscow is a leap.

with that in mind, I think it's time to stop beating around the bush and just admit India is both an ally and business partner of Russia; India is always cited with China on the top of Russia's non-militaristic (at least as we openly know) alliances on news outlets.

I mean, I cited it right there

"biggest buyers of Russian oil"

[Gorsameth]

"country that doesn't care about a war half the world away doesn't mind profiting from the cheap oil Russia can't sell to anyone else" hardly makes India an ally.

Like China they don't mind profiting from Russia's misfortune. But that's where it ends.