Ukraine war mega thread

[David48atTD]

Putin when asked about some of the billionaires that have run into difficulty abroad.

Nothing there

[David48atTD]

Anyway we are entering an Aleppo moment for Mariupol. Mariupol was/is Azov headquaters and where the bulk of Ukraine military was for the fight against the Donbass. Atrocity propaganda will reach a new level. There's already claims by azov that 1000 civilians died in a theatre bombing. Probably will get to the mainstream media soon.

Who is 'we'?

And let's have links for your claims.

[misskit]

Invaders drop bomb on Mariupol Drama Theater, where residents were hiding, number of dead unknown - city council

Russian invaders dropped a high-power bomb on the building of the Drama Theater in Mariupol, Donetsk region, where residents of the city were hiding from shelling, according to the Telegram channel of Mariupol City Council.


"The plane dropped a bomb on the building where hundreds of Mariupol civilians were hiding. It is still impossible to assess the scale of this terrible and inhuman act, because shelling of residential areas continues in the city. It is known that after the bombing the central part of the Drama Theater collapsed, and debris blocked the entrance to the bomb shelter located in the building," the message says.


MP of the Batkivschyna faction Serhiy Taruta reported that fierce battles were going on in Mariupol and no one could get to the rubble.


"We don't know if there are survivors. And the worst thing is that we can't get them out of the rubble. Many Mariupol residents were hiding in the theater with small children," the parliamentarian said.


"We undertake an obligation. To the dead and survivors of the Russian bombing. The obligation to find every pilot who drops bombs on Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities. We will find everyone. We will find and destroy. We will not stop until at least one of them breathes. This is our sacred duty!" Taruta summed up.

Invaders drop bomb on Mariupol Drama Theater, where residents were hiding, number of dead unknown - city council

[Backspin]

Well, a couple of possibilities from that.


The Vasily Bykov is a Russian Project 22160 patrol ship, of which several were manufactured.

Not very hard to simply paint the Vasily Bykov # 368 on the vessel.

or

What you show is earlier footage taken before the Vasily Bykov was destroyed.

or

It was another Project 22160 patrol ship that the Ukrainians destroyed.

or

any number of other possibilities ...

Ship spotters confirm the existence of the real ship with the real transponder.
https://twitter.com/Capt_Navy/status...686351880?s=19

This is the same ship that ABC News ran that report on that just said to be sunk. This is propaganda warfare. The truth doesn't really matter. Millions of ppl seen it and believe it

It's probably in the losses column in Bsnubs video links. This is just one case. The whole war is like this. Tanks aircraft , you name it.

[David48atTD]

^ Link doesn't work ... try again

[sabang]

Neo-Nazi Russian Attack Unit
Wagner Group

Creative journalism. Wagner Group is a sizable mercenary outfit, and as I understand it quite well regarded (or were, back when things Russian could be judged objectively).
Not particularly surprised they are being employed by the other side. But that is because they are mainly Russian mercenaries, not 'neo-Nazi'.

[misskit]

Excuse me? The Rusich group have been described as neo-nazis long before your ticktock war.

An untimely death reveals the nature of a Russian neo-Nazi unit that fought in Syria | by @DFRLab | DFRLab | Medium

Pressimus.com | Russian Neo-Nazi Paramilitary Group, Rusich, To Withdraw - Freezing Of Conflict Or A Feint?

The Guns and Gear of Wagner Group - GAT Daily (Guns Ammo Tactical)

[bsnub]

Link doesn't work ... try again

Of course, it doesn't because everything skiddy posts is BS and lies.

But that is because they are mainly Russian mercenaries, not 'neo-Nazi'.

More Three Stooges BS.

[Joe 90]

Peace deal or capitulation??

[misskit]

"Children" was spelled out on two sides of Mariupol theater before bombing, satellite images show

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show that on Monday, the word "children" was spelled out outside the theater that the Mariupol City Council said was bombed on Wednesday.


The City Council said that on Wednesday that Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol. The plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding."

[misskit]

Video: Mariupol theater serving as a shelter bombed by Russians - CNN Video

[aging one]

^ What is the reaction to the bombing of a refuge full of children from our resident gang of 3? Despicable is the only word I can think of. View the video.

[harrybarracuda]

^ What is the reaction to the bombing of a refuge full of children from our resident gang of 3? Despicable is the only word I can think of. View the video.

Oh one of the four witless wanketeers will be along to blame someone else for it.

[kingwilly]

^ What is the reaction to the bombing of a refuge full of children from our resident gang of 3? Despicable is the only word I can think of. View the video.

Oh one of the four witless wanketeers will be along to blame someone else for it.

Russia has already denied it - they will parrot that.

In Moscow, the defence ministry said its forces had not struck the building and instead accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, RIA news agency said.
It did not give evidence to back up the claim.
Russia had previously accused the battalion of preventing civilians from leaving the city, which has come under heavy bombardment.

Ukraine says Russia strikes Mariupol theatre sheltering residents, Moscow denies attack - ABC News

[harrybarracuda]

In Moscow, the defence ministry said its forces had not struck the building and instead accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up

Which of course all four wanketeers will believe without question.

[Shutree]

Despicable is the only word I can think of.

Sums it up. Not much more to be said.

[HermantheGerman]

Which of course all four wanketeers will believe without question.

Just call everyone a Nazi!
Women, children, men and even their pets.
End of discussion!
Life is easy when you are a "wanketeer"

[panama hat]

Putin when asked about some of the billionaires that have run into difficulty abroad.

Trouble in paradise, Putin is feeling the pressure of now having too many internal enemies - thanks for pointing that our, Backspit

[OhOh]

to blame someone else for it

Somebody did it, fact. An evil, planned act.

MK/CNN reports some accusations it was Russia. Other possibilities do not seem to be acknowledged by some.

The Famous Four CNN Chicks. The day-old chicks listen to the two-day-old chick to learn the truth.

Entrenched bias posted.

Russia has already denied it - they will parrot that.

You are accepting the view of one possibility, without any knowledge.

will believe without question.

You are accepting the view of one possibility, without any knowledge.

Sums it up

You are accepting the view of one possibility, without any knowledge.

Just call everyone a Nazi!

The NAZI propaganda was well received in the past by their audience.

The findings were found, with hindsight, to be correct.

A family connection?

[HermantheGerman]

The NAZI propaganda was well received in the past by their audience.
The findings were found, with hindsight, to be correct.
A family connection?

You already gave us your answer about your family connection (father), or did I miss understand you?

Russian admirer, we had many heated discussions over Maggie's South Atlantic adventure.

He was a admirer for terror system that was, and still is, responsible for millions of death. Who would have thought

[sabang]

"What constitutes the most important geostrategic event of the week? Well, it was India insisting to remove the US dollar in trade with Russia and replacing it with the local currency (whilst the US reacts by threatening India with separate sanctions). The list of ‘recalcitrants’ is lengthening: China too has been threatened by US sanctions for not joining in sanctioning Russia. Other states, including Turkey, Brazil (a skeptical Bolsonaro) and Gulf States are boycotting the ‘war on Russia’. In effect, it is mostly Europe who has gone the ‘whole hog’ on the lines of French Finance minister Le Maire’s comments in “waging an all-out economic and financial war on Russia. We will cause the collapse of the Russian economy”. The rest of the world remains notably ‘cool’ and aloof."

Full Article - https://thealtworld.com/alastair_crooke/a-world-at-war


India's move (and temerity!) has set a very significant precedent.

[panama hat]

Would you be laughing if Xi said it?

Yes, but are you too stupid to stick by what Putin said?

[sabang]

This seems to me a very good, very moderate, common sense article. I invite comments or (more accurately) reactions from those that say it is not :-


Arsenal of Democracy or Simply an Arsenal?

The New Cold War Is Here to Stay, Until It Isn't

BY WILLIAM ASTORE


In certain quarters in this country, Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has generated enthusiasm for a new cold war.

At the New York Times, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have been described as “children of the [old] Cold War” now involved in a “face off,” an “eyeball to eyeball” confrontation harkening back to John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev contesting Berlin and Cuba in “dramatic fashion” 60 years ago. (Never mind that the “drama” over Cuba nearly led to nuclear war and the possible end of most life on Earth.) Such breathless accounts make me think of the role Slim Pickens played as Major Kong in Stanley Kubrick’s famed film Dr. Strangelove, giddy with resolve, even relief of a kind, now that he and his B-52 crew are finally headed for nuclear combat with the Russkies.

Whatever else one might say of the crisis in Ukraine, the new cold war dreamscape that Washington think tanks and the Pentagon helped promulgate over the last decade against Russia or China or both is here to stay. Consider that a calamity in its own right. The end of America’s failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the disastrous results of America’s Global War on Terror launched amid a barrage of lies and self-praise, might indeed have left an opening, however slight, for a shift away from colossal military budgets and creeping militarization.

Russia’s ill-planned and immoral invasion of Ukraine marks the definitive end of that possibility, however small it might have been. Putin’s actions, whatever their motivation and justification, are being seized upon by the military-industrial-congressional complex as proof positive that Pentagon budgets, already in the stratosphere, must soar higher yet. For so many of the Putin-haters (and I’m no fan), his destructive actions supposedly demonstrate why the U.S. must be prepared to double down in kind.

That, of course, means yet more weapons production and sales globally for the country that’s already the planet’s leading purveyor of such products. It also means more bellicose rhetoric, and ultimately more militarism, because that’s all Putin and his authoritarian ilk will allegedly ever understand (as is sadly true of so many in Washington as well). Consider all this a peculiar form of American madness, akin to the idea that a guy with a gun, or better yet, lots of guys with lots of guns, the more powerful the better, are the sanest way to prevent gun violence.

Thought about a certain way, in taking such an approach, our government and, by extension, the American people are ceding our autonomy of thought and action to “bad actors” like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. For every war Putin launches, America, so we’re told, must respond with yet more weapons sales, troop deployments, debilitating sanctions, and above all, astronomically higher military spending. For every aircraft carrier the Chinese build, or any new expansion onto yet another tiny island in the South China Sea, the U.S. military must “pivot” harder toward Asia, while building yet more staggeringly expensive ships of its own. As possibilities, disengagement and détente go unmentioned. “Peace” isn’t a word American presidents favor anymore. As a result, even modest military moves by Putin and Xi are essentially guaranteed to drive the U.S. economy yet deeper into militarized debt. (As if $6 trillion already squandered on the disastrous war on terror wasn’t pricey enough.) After all, full-spectrum dominance over the global battlespace, a fantasy in the “best” of times, and a new cold war won’t come cheap, a fact that U.S. weapons manufacturers are surely banking on.

Even before the recent Russian invasion, estimates for the fiscal year 2023 Pentagon budget had risen to $770 billion or even $800 billion. With Russian tanks now rolling through (or stalled in) Ukraine, you can bet your bottom dollar that $800 billion will be the floor, not the ceiling for that future budget and the Pentagon’s 2023 demands from Congress. This country, we’re once again hearing, is to be the arsenal of democracy (to steal a phrase from the World War II era). But count on this: if you’re not careful an arsenal of democracy can easily enough devolve into little more than an arsenal. And that time, I suspect, is now.

The World Is Not Enough

Don’t misunderstand me: I condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s a horror and an obvious disaster in the making. That said, Russia may have a super nuclear arsenal, but it’s not a superpower, despite all those Cold War memories of ours, nor does its attack on Ukraine, in and of itself, pose a major threat to our own national security. Indeed, experts around the world have been predicting for decades that NATO expansion, exacerbated by U.S. meddling in Ukraine, could provoke Vladimir Putin to launch just such a war. In short, Russia’s invasion was indeed predictable, even if not faintly excusable.

Nor are the Russian president’s designs on Ukraine and his quest for greater power in eastern Europe historically surprising. In fact, serious self-reflection should lead us to the obvious conclusion that the scale of Russia’s ambitions, objectionable as they might be, are also limited compared to ours.

Again, Russia remains a distinctly regional power, while the United States still fancies itself to be the last remaining superpower on planet Earth. No other country comes close to the scale of our global ambitions (and they’re higher still, if you count this country’s Trump-era Space Force with its vision that the heavens are but the next “warfighting domain” for us to dominate). In other words, in this century, when it came to our military, the world was not enough. All realms were to be under its command: land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Note, in fact, that we have a military force or special military command for all of them and our leaders simply take for granted that such dominance is to be ours and no one else’s.

Think about it. Of all the countries on Earth, only the U.S. divides the entire globe into military commands run by four-star generals and admirals; only America has 750 or so military bases scattered across every continent except Antarctica; only America sees a country — I’m thinking here of Ukraine (although not so long ago it could have been Afghanistan or Iraq), roughly 5,000 miles away across a vast ocean, as its legitimate eastern flank. At the same time, only this country sees a body of water like the South China Sea as a lake for its Navy to navigate and dominate, as if it were part of our coastal waters.

Imagine, for a moment, that Russia or China had an America Command, an AMERCOM. Imagine that Russian advisors were training and equipping Canadian troops, while Chinese aircraft carrier task forces regularly sailed the Gulf of Mexico. As Americans, we, of course, can’t imagine such things and yet that’s the world we inhabit, even if in reverse.

Most of us seem to consider the imperial ambitions of this country, including the eventual expansion of NATO into Ukraine and Georgia and the continued deployment of powerful aircraft carrier strike groups near the coast of China, as benign, uncontroversial evidence of our military resolve. Under the circumstances, it shouldn’t be that hard to recognize that others on this planet might not feel quite the same way.

That America’s pursuit of global reach and global power would be seen as a challenge, indeed a provocation, by a regional power like Russia or one with full-scale imperial ambitions, even if of a largely economic sort, like China with its trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative, should surprise no one. Under the circumstances, it was inevitable that, sooner or later, this country’s continued pursuit of full-spectrum dominance would produce a new cold war, as certain American experts predicted, and some seemed to desire. Think of the chaotic and disturbed world we’re now living in as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, as well as a rare “triumph” of long-term strategic planning by certain elements within the national security state. What they wished for, they got. Today, it should be all too obvious that the results are anything but pleasing.

Your Role as a Loyal American in the New Cold War

My fellow Americans, in this new cold war of ours, the national security state expects both all too much and all too little of you. Let’s start with the little. It doesn’t expect you to enlist in the military if you’re rich or have “other priorities” (as former Vice President Dick Cheney said about the Vietnam War). It doesn’t expect you to pay close attention to our wars, let alone foreign policy. You don’t even have to vote. It does, however, expect you to cheer at the right times, be “patriotic,” wave the flag, gush about America, and celebrate its fabulous, militarized exceptionalism.

To enlist in this country’s cheerleading squad, which is of course God’s squad, you might choose to wear a flag lapel pin and affix a “Support Our Troops” sticker to your SUV. You should remind everyone that “freedom isn’t free” and that “God, guns, and guts” made America great. If the godly empire says Ukraine is a worthy friend, you might add a blue-and-yellow “frame” to your Facebook profile photo. If that same empire tells you to ignore ongoing U.S. drone strikes in Somalia and U.S. support for an atrocious Saudi war in Yemen, you are expected to comply. Naturally, you’ll also be expected to pay your taxes without complaint, for how else are we to buy all the weapons and wage all the wars that America needs to keep the peace?

Naturally, certain people need to be collectively despised in our very own version of George Orwell’s “ ).

Again, little is expected of you (so far) except your obedience, which should be enthusiastic rather than reluctant. Yet whether you know it or not, much is expected of you as well. You must surrender any hopes and dreams you’ve harbored of a fairer, kinder, more equitable and just society. For example, military needs in the new cold war simply won’t allow us to “build back better.” Forget about money for childcare, a $15 federal minimum wage, affordable healthcare for all, better schools, or similar “luxuries.” Maybe in some distant future (or some parallel universe), we’ll be able to afford such things, but not when we’re faced with the equivalent of the Klingon Empire that must be stopped at any cost.

But wait! I hear some of you saying that it doesn’t have to be this way! And I agree. A better future could be imagined. A saying of John F. Kennedy’s comes to mind: “We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad.” What we’re currently doing at home is building more weapons, sinking more tax dollars into the Pentagon, and enriching more warrior-corporations at the expense of the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable. Where’s the democratic future in that?

Sheer military might, our leaders seem to believe, will keep them forever riding high in the saddle. Yet you can ride too high in any saddle, making the fall that’s coming that much more precipitous and dangerous.

Americans, acting in concert, could stop that fall, but not by giving our current crop of leaders a firmer grasp of the reins. Do that and they’ll just spur this nation to greater heights of military folly. No, we must have the courage to unseat them from their saddles, strip them of their guns, and corral their war horses, before they lead us into yet another disastrously unending cold war that could threaten the very existence of humanity. We need to find another way that doesn’t prioritize weapons and war, but values compromise, compassion, and comity.

At this late date, I’m not sure we can do it. I only know that we must.

https://tomdispatch.com/arsenal-of-d...ly-an-arsenal/

[bsnub]

In short, Russia’s invasion was indeed predictable

From your own article but not predictable by you for sure.

You had to choke down on a lot of the crap you have posted over the last year to get through that article, but it is fairly pointed by a credible author, IMHO. I do not agree with him on all points, but it is a far better post than most of your Three Stooges crap.

Of course, I am on the piss rn, so I may feel differently in the morning.

[bsnub]

Full Article - A world at war - TheAltWorld

Oh, this dumb fuck again. You failed to mention that it only has to do with arms sales, I guess the Indians are going to rake it in on this deal. Ruskie arms just got dirt cheap.

You Three Stooges really are idiots.




Russia, India no longer using U.S. dollars in arms deals payments