Russian invasion of Ukraine

[PhaelixWW]

Given lack of fuel and possibly batteries in some they'll be giant metal refrigerators. The only positive would be being out of the wind.

The Russian troops should be on the lookout for local Ukrainians offering a TankHeater^TM to their visiting neighbors:



I'm not sure the Russians would enjoy it as much as the Ukrainians, though.

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CNN Analysis: 2 weeks of war have revealed cracks in Putin's master plan for Ukraine

Two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russia's "precision strikes" have become much less precise and its ground forces arelaboring to seize territory.

On the eve of the offensive, some US officials predicted Kyiv would fall within 48 to 72 hours of hostilities beginning. Yet the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine still hangs from its buildings.

If, as Putin asserted, Ukraine was not a real country, it would surely have collapsed by now. But even with 150,000 Russian troops inside its borders, according to US assessments, they control at most about 10% of Ukraine.

On the ground: Serious defenses and countless checkpoints have popped up around Kyiv. Ukrainian forces — to the surprise of many observers — have been nimble and effective against Russian armor that has struggled to make progress.

Small, mobile units that know the territory have cut down Russian convoys. The anti-tank weapons acquired mainly from the US and UK have left smoking hulks on roads across the country. Turkish-made attack drones have been deployed to precise effect.

In the few areas occupied by Russian forces — even those that are predominantly Russian-speaking — crowds of hundreds have hurled abuse at bewildered Russian soldiers. They have built mountains of tires to defend their towns and painted over street signs.

Not that the Ukrainians have the upper hand: They can't defeat a vastly superior Russian force, but the evidence so far suggests that — fortified by weapons and other help flowing across the border from Poland — they may yet deny Putin victory.

[Forogil]

Show me those plans in writing rather then in Western analyst talk.

When dismissing western analyst talks, and trying to spin the narrative that you are Russia are credible I want to repeat the following:

I'd put it as 94% "nothing will happen".
5% "Zelenski actually declares martial law (as his faction denied he planned to) that he will justify by coup concerns" then proceeds to wipe out opposition and their media outlets
0.9% "Actual Ukrainian coup happens"
0.1% "Russia actually attacks"

How do you rate that prediction?

#JustAskingQuestions

Assuming you are now admitting that Russia actually attacked.

[Santti]

Oh great, Shalcker is back. Just we need.

Here's a suggestion: let's follow the example set by the larger companies like Blizzard and McDonald's and slam the door on their face? At least the propaganda machines we've had to endure for years now? Pretty please?

[Zaydin]

Oh great, Shalcker is back. Just we need.

Here's a suggestion: let's follow the example set by the larger companies like Blizzard and McDonald's and slam the door on their face? At least the propaganda machines we've had to endure for years now? Pretty please?

People could just ignore Shalcker. They can't stay at it long given the ruble is worthless now and Putin won't be able to pay them within a month.

[zealo]

Oh great, Shalcker is back. Just we need.

Here's a suggestion: let's follow the example set by the larger companies like Blizzard and McDonald's and slam the door on their face? At least the propaganda machines we've had to endure for years now? Pretty please?

Shouldn't take long until he says something that could send him on another forum vacation.

After all, he risks 15 years in prison for deviating from the Kremlin line on this.

[Santti]

People could just ignore Shalcker. They can't stay at it long given the ruble is worthless now and Putin won't be able to pay them within a month.

People could (they won't), and I'm not sure I'm okay with this deluge of disgusting misinformation about a very serious situation to continue like this, ignore or no ignore.

[Kaleredar]

People could (they won't), and I'm not sure I'm okay with this deluge of disgusting misinformation about a very serious situation to continue like this, ignore or no ignore.

There's a problem with the way they communicate their misinformation, though. It's too "informed," in that they rattle off a bunch of names and places and things said by people no one's ever heard of in this kind of non-committal, begging-the-question pablum that just sort of cyclically leads nowhere without ever arriving at anything approaching a communicable point beyond something like "well I guess this Russian news person said this thing about another Russian official who a few months ago talked about a Ukrainian official who I heard quoted a piece of US news media saying that..."

Yeah, snore.

That isn't easily digestible, sound-biteable spreadable misinformation because he loses people's interest like two sentences in. It really just serves to generally sort of derail threads more than communicate anything of note, and even when he's backed into a corner it just becomes a matter of "well you can't prove it happened, and if you can prove it happened you can't prove that Russa did it, and if you can prove Russia did it you can't prove it was bad, and if you can prove it was bad you can't prove it happened intentionally, and if you can prove it happened intentionally you can't prove the US didn't do something equally as bad, and if you can prove the US didn't do something equally as bad you can't prove anything because morality is all relative and what if we're all the dream of a sleeping butterfly?"

Like, that's not fooling anyone.

[Santti]

Like, that's not fooling anyone.

I would like to believe that, but then Trump and Brexit happened.

[Shalcker]

When dismissing western analyst talks, and trying to spin the narrative that you are Russia are credible I want to repeat the following:

How do you rate that prediction?

Note that probability wasn't zero; sometimes rare events do happen - like when Trump was projected to lose in 2016.

And it was made before all talks with US, NATO, and EU failed to change anything.

[Kaleredar]

I would like to believe that, but then Trump and Brexit happened.

Yeah, but that was the sort of memable "build the wall" bullshit, not cyclical discussions about Russian conspiracies about Ukrainian rebels supposedly aggressing some front of some region no bumfuck Trump supporter has ever heard of.

[PhaelixWW]

Note that probability wasn't zero; sometimes rare events do happen - like when Trump was projected to lose in 2016.

Lol, nah.

NYTimes, for example, gave Trump a 1/6 chance. 538 gave him nearly 3/10 odds. Those are not "rare events" like your claimed 1/1000 that Russia would attack.

[Shalcker]

NYTimes, for example, gave Trump a 1/6 chance. 538 gave him nearly 3/10 odds. Those are not "rare events" like your claimed 1/1000 that Russia would attack.

World-changing wars are rare compared to one candidate losing to another; expecting war with very high probability would be strange.

Especially absent information about US biolabs in Ukraine and Zelensky's talks about possibly turning away from their nuclear commitments.

[PhaelixWW]

World-changing wars are rare compared to one candidate losing to another; expecting war with very high probability would be strange.

Especially absent information about US biolabs in Ukraine and Zelensky's talks about possibly turning away from their nuclear commitments.

Yes, absent information... because those things only exist in the hallucinations of Putin's propagandists. There's always a sucker or 100 million that will believe those bullshit claims without evidence.

You're buying (and selling) the lie, kid.

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I mean, of all the fucking stupid pretexts...

"Hey, we believe, without evidence, that you have biological weapons. Biological weapons are bad, yo. Those are war crimes just waiting to happen. So you know what we're going to do?

We're going to invade you and target civilians with cluster bombs and thermobaric weapons to stop you!"

Fucking clownshoes.

Nobody's buying the shit Putin is trying to push, sorry.

[Torched]

https://twitter.com/dansabbagh/statu...2F20222232365d

"Western officials warning they have "good reason to be concerned about the possible use of non conventional weapons" - ie chemical and biological - by Russia in Ukraine"

"Alarmist warning follows scene setting "false flag claims" made by Russia's MFA today, claiming Ukraine had a bioweapons programme. Argument is that Russia has done similar before; leading to chemical attacks by proxies in Syria."

Keep eating up all that russian propaganda shalcker, because no one else in their right mind would.

[Easo]

Talks between Lavrov and Kuleba in Antalya have started.

Since I see that our best friend Shalcker has returned and immediately went back to what he does best I would ask that you do not answer his propaganda with propaganda of your own. Be better, check your sources, do no be like him.

[PhaelixWW]

The Guardian: Sweden’s government plans to increase military spending to 2% of GDP “as soon as practically possible” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, we present a new initiative with a clear message to the Swedish people and to the world around us. Sweden’s defence capability must be greatly strengthened,” prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said today, reports Reuters.

Following the end of the cold war, Sweden’s defence spending as fallen from 3% of GDP in the early 1980s to around 1% in recent years.

The PM shot down rumors that Sweden would apply for NATO membership... right now. But a majority of Swedes support NATO membership.

This certainly looks like they're laying the groundwork for it.

[zealo]

The Guardian: Sweden’s government plans to increase military spending to 2% of GDP “as soon as practically possible” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


The PM shot down rumors that Sweden would apply for NATO membership... right now. But a majority of Swedes support NATO membership.

This certainly looks like they're laying the groundwork for it.

So does a majority of the parliament, it's specifically the S-led executive that is against it right now.

That position in this country could change reasonably soon, the next general election is in September of this year, and NATO membership is guaranteed to be on the agenda for courting voters in the preceding months.

[Shrouded]

The Guardian: Sweden’s government plans to increase military spending to 2% of GDP “as soon as practically possible” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


The PM shot down rumors that Sweden would apply for NATO membership... right now. But a majority of Swedes support NATO membership.

This certainly looks like they're laying the groundwork for it.

For sure. Sweden doesn't want world tension escalated further by openly talking about moving towards joining NATO, but the writing is on the wall - Putin pushed multiple nations into it. Without his "special military operation", Sweden and Finland would've happily stayed outside.

[XDurionX]

Yes, losses are always projected; so far (by MoD estimates) we're below projections.

Is it just me or does this underline how inhuman the russian government is (assuming that this is real)?

[Jessicka]

Wouldn't they be kicked out the moment they went awol?

No, like most employers, summary dismissal is unlawful. There has to be formal proceedings.

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Seems like they are in good company with 20,000 people from 52 countries.

Sure, wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t serving soldiers. A lot of volunteers have gone from the UK.